Even if prices are not going through the roof, buying more nutritious food is still costly.
"It is ironic that good or healthier food like apples are more expensive than the food laced with sugars or fats," said Peine. "We need to be more thoughtful on what food we grow."
But the reason for the higher prices is fairly simple, said the National Farmers Union's Johnson.
"Crops like vegetables and fruits are more perishable, so they are more expensive to grow," he said. "Unlike other commodities, they are just less profitable for farmers."
A further irony in the world's hunger problem is that farmers—outside of developed countries—make up a majority of the world's poorest and hungriest people.
"Many farmers don't make enough to live on each year," Ron Johnson said. "Underdeveloped economies and some global trade are pushing them to the side."
The WFO cites various causes for hunger and food insecurity—poverty, war, climate change, shrinking land and water resources, economic and political disruption.
Suggested solutions are just as plentiful.
"We don't need more corn and soybeans, which have become part of the ethanol focus to be energy efficient, and for feeding livestock," Peine said. "What we do need is to produce food to eat rather than industrial commodities."
Technology could be a key to ending food scarcity, said Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity, a nonprofit group with business members including ConAgra and DuPont.
"We should be using more genetically modified crops that would produce stronger and sturdier crops," Arnot said.
"We need to move food from where it is to where it isn't and that means investing in agriculture development using the best technologies we have," Arnot added.
But technology comes with risk, said chef Mary Lawton Johnson.
"I'm not in favor of genetically modified foods to feed a starving world," she said. "The health side effects can be dangerous in my opinion."
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"What we need is more localization of food-growing. Let the crops natural to the land grow instead of pushing crops that are not meant to be there," she said.
Food shortage solutions includes taming the investing markets, said Sarah Lawrence's Muldavin.
"The market trading of commodities is overboard and not helping food prices," said Muldavin. "Why does a bushel of wheat have to be traded five times a day?"
"I think we need to step out of the way of the market place and let it take its course," said Tim Richards, a professor of agribusiness at Arizona State University. "We're destroying local food markets around the world by forcing them to buy U.S. commodities."
"We should stop global government support for farmers. The market does a fantastic job of sorting out prices and food production," said Richards. "If we just stay out of the way, food shortages could be eliminated."