 This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. This June in Brazil, delegates will mark the 20th anniversary of what is commonly known as the Earth Summit. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. One of the issues that the delegates plan to discuss in June at Rio Plus 20 is the role of agriculture in climate change. A recent article written by a team of scientists says agriculture should be a top priority in climate change negotiations. It says there was some progress in this area but not much at the United Nations Climate Conference in December in Durban, South Africa. The article What Next for Agriculture After Durban appeared in the journal Science. Britain's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Bennington, led the international team that wrote it to try to influence policymakers. Molly John from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was one of those authors. She says efforts to guarantee food security are falling short in significant ways that have come to our attention, especially recently, with the significant price shocks. Prices on the world market have remained high since the food crisis of 2007 and 2008. Professor John says agriculture is a major producer of greenhouse gases blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere. But agriculture also offers ways to lessen their effects with known and proven farming practices. She says agriculture is threatened by climate change, especially in vulnerable parts of the world. But agriculture also represents an opportunity to better manage meeting our needs while we reduce the emissions of various greenhouse gases that are accumulating in the atmosphere. Professor John says moving toward climate smart agriculture should be at the center of policy considerations. The scientists call for reducing the huge amount of food that gets wasted or goes bad before it can be eaten. Another recommendation is to plant more crops that put less pressure on the environment. The article says the integration of agriculture in the climate change negotiating process has been moving slowly. At the same time, climate change and population growth have been moving much faster. The article calls on scientists to play a bigger part in the issue by making sure climate change negotiators have clear data available. Such information, they say, could help increase investment in agriculture. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presuti.