Productivity is back on the policy agenda with rising food prices, heightened concerns about resource scarcity and increase risk from climate change, according to Dr. Keith Fuglie with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During the release of the 2012 GAP Report published by Global Harvest Initiative during the 2012 World Food Prize, Fuglie said it’s being realized more and more that we will need to rely on total productivity growth to meet the rapid demand that is projected for global agriculture. For this to happen, agriculture will need to focus most heavily on raising yield.
The total factor productivity (TFP) concept really looks at the questions of can we get more output without having to intensity outputs (fertilizer, water, etc.)? Can we get more total output from the current bundle of resources (technology, and improved efficiency)? From this bundle of land, labor, capital and energy, can we grow output without raising this total bundle?
Fuglie says this is Important from a policy perspective because TFP is really being driven by a different set of economic and policy instruments. Primarily TFP over the long-run is conditioned by what our investments are in research and extension- getting the right technologies to the right people at the right time.
The GAP Report concludes that the majority of growth came from productivity growth in developing countries, such as Brazil and China who have increased their TFP growth strategy. One significant factor – investments and research have a critical role to play in determining whether productivity is growing.
In terms of the GAP report, the question was asked, what rate of growth productivity do we need to double output by 2050? Can this be done with just a TFP strategy and what policies would need to be in place? At least for this decade we’re on the path to double in 40 years if the current rate is maintained. However, we’ll need to maintain or accelerate research and investment and it needs to be more equitably distributed worldwide.
Listen to Dr. Keith Fuglie’s presentation here: Total Factor Productivity on Policy Agenda
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
This is the second time I attended the World Food Prize – the first time was in 2008 when former Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern were recognized as Laureates for their bipartisan leadership in the 1970s to reform and expand school food and nutrition programs.
Sen. McGovern’s name has come up several times during this event as the 90-year-old is nearing the end of his life in Sioux Falls, SD with his family at his side. It made me go back and look at my coverage of the 2008 World Food Prize and was surprised to see I took so many photos of this great man at that event.
He and Dole joked around quite a bit during the event. When asked during a press conference if he thought it was a good idea to provide cash instead of commodities for food programs, McGovern said it was a good idea, quipping, “I myself would rather have this $250,000 prize that Bob and I are going to divide than a bag of potatoes, so I’m a little partial to cash.”
You can listen to that press conference here: 2008 World Food Prize Laureates George McGovern and Bob Dole
As I read the news reports that Sen. McGovern was close to death, I was struck by the fact that his life was summed up by the AP as “the Democratic presidential candidate who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide.” I certainly hope he will be remembered instead for the great work he did in helping feed hungry children around the world. It is fitting that his family this week asked well-wishers to send donations to Feeding South Dakota instead of cards or flowers. That request was made on Wednesday and on Thursday WDLT in Sioux Falls reports the agency was swamped with donations.
The agency’s Development Director Kerri DeGraff will remember McGovern not as a failed presidential candidate, but rather as an advocate for the hungry who “worked hard to talk about the issues of hunger, create awareness and let individuals know that it is a solvable issue.”
Our prayers are with the McGovern family and the Senator as they prepare for his passage from this world into one where there is no hunger.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah released the first progress report and scorecard for Feed the Future at an address to the World Food Prize on Thursday.
The progress report highlights how Feed the Future is already making a difference in people’s lives in the developing world and the scorecard tracks how well we are changing our development and engagement process to more effectively meet our goals. So far Feed the Future has helped 1.8 million food producers to adopt improved technologies or management practices that can lead to more resilient crops, higher yields, and increased incomes. The initiative has also reached nearly 9 million children through nutrition programs, which can prevent and treat undernutrition and improve child survival.
Shah also announced new initiatives to help farmers and communities in developing countries, including two new lending facilities to help smallholder farmer organizations in Africa, and a partnership for educating the next generation of agricultural leaders and World Food Prize laureates.
Listen to Shah’s comments here: USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by ElancoGeneral Mills CEO Kendall Powell says his company and his employees are very simply “hungry to help” people in Africa by increasing their food supply.
“We’re hungry to help the entrepreneur in Tanzania who is trying to package her products and access new markets,” Powell said during an address at the World Food Prize symposium on Thursday. “We’re hungry to help the food scientist in Zambia searching for solutions to retain food flavor and optimize nutrients. And we’re hungry to help the farmer in Malawi who, by selling her crop, will generate the money needed to support her family and pay for her children to go to school.”
Powell said General Mills is uniquely qualified to help Africa in a number of areas, such as food processing, but he believes all food companies will eventually be in Africa. “Africa’s economy grew 5.7% in the last decade and is expected to grow 5.5% this year,” he said. “The African continent is ripe with opportunity.” But, he says they are there today because they can help African processors, farmers and communities now.
Partners in Food Solutions (PFS) is a nonprofit organization that links the technical and business expertise of volunteer employees from General Mills, Cargill and Royal DSM to small and medium-sized mills and food processors in the developing world. Powell announced an expansion of that effort through a renewed public-private partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Listen to Powell’s comments here: General Mills CEO Kendall Powell
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
Less people in the world are going hungry but less is still too many.
The 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) at the World Food Prize symposium on Thursday shows that hunger on a global scale remains “serious” and 20 countries have levels of hunger that are “alarming” or “extremely alarming.”
The good news is that the 2012 world GHI is down 26 percent from the 1990 world GHI, from a score of 19.8 to 14.7.
Presenting the report during a breakfast on Thursday, IFPRI Deputy Director Claudia Ringler said they found that those countries facing high levels of hunger also face scarcity of natural resources, limited access to clean water and sanitation and modern forms of energy, and insecure land rights. “While the picture is somewhat grim in the report, the importance is to focus on the solutions and what we can do to reduce hunger and malnutrition levels, and there’s a lot we can do,” she said.
Listen to my interview with Claudia here: Claudia Ringler, IFPRI
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
The moderator and one of the participants on the opening panel at the World Food Prize symposium Borlaug Dialogues have authored books aimed at increasing awareness of world hunger and how we can feed a growing population.
Sir Gordon Conway’s book “One Billion Hungry – Can We Feed the World?” basically is the long version of his simple answer “Yes.”
“But there’s lots of ‘buts,'” Conway clarifies. “Very simply it says that the routes forward to food security are through appropriate innovation, markets that connect small holders, through people – particularly the half billion small holders in the world, and finally through political leadership.”
Sir Gordon notes that animal protein is important for healthy young people, “but the bigger question is to what extent can we produce enough grain to feed the massive growth in livestock production?”
Listen my interview with Sir Gordon here: Sir Gordon Conway interview
Roger Thurow is Senior Fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former Wall Street Journal reporter who dedicated his life to raising awareness of world hunger after doing a series of stories on famine in Africa in 2003. “What I saw there basically changed my career, changed my life,” he said. “Instead of moving from story to story, place to place and country to country, this is the story I really need to cover. So, now I write books about it.”
Thurow has written several books on the topic of hunger, his latest being “The Last Hunger Season” which details a year in an African farm community. The Hunger Season refers to the time between when food from a previous harvest runs out and the next harvest begins. It is actually being made into a documentary and you can find out more about it on TheLastHungerSeason.com.
Roger made a great comment when I asked him about the role of GMO crops in places like Africa, noting that is important for those countries to be able to make up their own minds on the issue. “There’s a great African saying that ‘when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled’ … the elephants are the U.S. and Europe and the grass is Africa.”
Listen my interview with Roger here: Roger Thurow interview
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
It’s time once again for a Royal Gala. A Livestock Publications Council kind of Royal Gala.
The funds raised during the annual LPC Royal Gala are used for the ongoing activities for LPC with the focus on the LPC Heritage Center at the American Royal in Kansas City, MO. This will be the 9th year for the Gala.
Here are the details:
When: Friday, November 2, 2012, 7-11pm
Where: American Royal Headquarters, 1701 American Royal Court, Kansas City, MO
At the event there will be the unveiling of the 2012 Hall of Honor inductees. Seating is limited. Send your ticket donation of $50/person asap since the deadline is tomorrow! At this point you may want to email Megan Crudup.
DeLaval has a new vision. I learned about it at World Dairy Expo from Christian Poggensee, Regional President, North America. Simply put it is, “We make sustainable food production possible.” Christian says it’s not a target but rather something the company wants to be perceived as. DeLaval became a sponsor of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards earlier this year.
The company launched their sustainability initiative several years ago. New products development keeps four things in mind: Environment, Animal Welfare, Social Responsibility and Farm Profitability.
One of the more fun products by DeLaval that accomplish this are their Swinging Cow Brushes! These were on display in the DeLaval exhibit at World Dairy Expo.
The DeLaval swinging cow brush SCB is designed to improve cow health, comfort and welfare. The swinging cow brush SCB, which starts to rotate on contact, is a revolution in cow care and cow comfort. The unique brush which rotates at an animal-friendly speed, swings freely in all directions, smoothly up, over and alongside the cow to provide comfort all around.
Listen to this week’s ZimmCast to learn more about what’s new with DeLaval: The New DeLaval Vision
2012 World Dairy Expo Photo Album
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.
A panel discussion to set the stage for the Borlaug Dialogue at the 2012 World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines considered the question “One Billion Hungry – Can We Feed the World Sustainably?”
The panel moderator was Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and participants in the discussion were:
Sir Gordon Conway – Professor of International Development, Imperial College London
Gebisa Ejeta – Distinguished Professor of Plant Breeding & Genetics & International Agriculture, Purdue University
Susan Godwin – Smallholder Farmer, Nigeria
Jane Karuku – President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Roger Thurow (Moderator) – Senior Fellow, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Conway started this informative discussion by simply saying that the answer to the question is “Yes.” Susan Godwin related her personal experience as an African farmer, which was really interesting.
Listen to or download the whole conversation here: Setting the Stage Panel
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco