Even though the word “crisis” is being used liberally here at the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Symposium, there is a great deal of focus on solutions to feeding a growing global population.

The “Global Agricultural Crisis of the 21st Century” was the topic of the keynote speaker for the symposium kickoff, Sir Gordon Conway, who is chief scientific adviser for the UK. He talked about the spike in food prices over the past year and the underlying causes, which he listed about ten – including increasing population, higher per capita income, increased demand for meat, higher prices for energy and fertilizer – and yes, demand for biofuels – but that was only ONE of the causes!

Conway stressed the need to address why we want to produce biofuels and the urgency to move quickly into second and even third generation biofuels – such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and biodiesel from algae. “Maybe we should have a new World Food Prize on this,” Conway said. “In which we transform the world from one dependent on fossil fuels for energy and production of chemicals, into one that depends on plants as a basic source of our economy.”

He also talked about the need to increase yields in all areas of the world, especially Africa, and how genetically modified varieties can help. He noted that GM is actually growing in acceptance, “everywhere except in Europe.”

Listen to Conway’s comments here:
wfp-08-conway.mp3

You can also download the audio with this link: Sir Gordon Conway remarks at World Food Prize (mp3)

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.