Unlimited free data on hunger, food and agriculture is now available from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through its central data repository FAO-STAT. It was previously possible to get some data for free from FAO-STAT, but larger datasets were only available through a subscription.
From the FAO Media Centre: FAO-STAT “contains over one million data points covering 210 countries and territories” and “is an important tool in the fight to alleviate poverty, promote sustainable development and eliminate hunger….FAOSTAT includes data on agricultural and food production, usage of fertilizers and pesticides, food aid shipments, food balance sheets, forestry and fisheries production, irrigation and water use, land use, population trends, trade in agricultural products, the use of agricultural machinery, and more.
FAOSTAT can be consulted using English, French or Spanish and allows users to select and organize the statistical information into tables and charts according to their needs and to download it in Excel format. The original statistic data is supplied by individual countries and regional development organizations in standardized formats. Records go back to 1961.”