Invest in Agricultural Science and Technology

The global food crisis is the result of many intersecting factors, as Jake Caldwell of the Center for American Progress recently explained. Alleviating the current hardships and preventing future crises will require a multi-pronged slate of solutions, he wrote, including additional investment in agricultural research “to increase food production yields in a safe and transparent manner.”

Yesterday, the New York Times looked at the precipitous decline in agricultural research since the early 1990s, as more people around the world have more resources to spend on food and diets are shifting:

Now, a reckoning is at hand. Growth of the global food supply has slowed even as the population has continued to increase, and as economic growth is giving millions of poor people the money to buy more food.

With demand beginning to outstrip supply, prices have soared, and food riots have erupted that have undermined the stability of foreign governments. World leaders are scrambling to respond. On May 1, President Bush asked Congress for an extra $770 million to pay for food aid and to help farmers improve their productivity.

But cuts in agricultural research continue. The United States is in the midst of slashing, by as much as 75 percent, its $59.5 million annual support for a global research network that focuses on improving crops vital to agriculture in poor countries.

Last month, an international panel of agricultural researchers released the massive International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which made it clear that more investment from international partners is necessary: “Achieving development and sustainability goals would entail increased funds and more diverse funding mechanisms for agricultural research and development and associated knowledge systems.” David Dickson, Director of SciDev.Net lauded the report’s “demand for more public investment in agricultural research” and lamented declining international donations, which has left the issue in the hands of private sector companies.

Andrew Revkin, writing at Dot Earth on the parallel between food and energy research, points to another NYT article on the business opportunities that may appear with rising food prices, opening the window for solutions driven by private enterprise. But investors won’t drive research if the price spikes are temporary.

Going forward, we have to make sure that a growing world population can feed itself in a sustainable manner, particularly as ecosystems continue to change as a result of global warming. One part of that project will be investing in agricultural science, technology, and tech transfer.

Tags: agriculture

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