Beyond hitting nearly three-quarters of U.S. corn and soybean crops, drought has had a global impact on food price volatility and agricultural productivity. To help address these challenges, World Food Prize Laureate Catherine Bertini and former US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman call for supporting agricultural research and technologies that will help equip farmers with the tools they need to manage severe drought conditions. 

They state in a Politico opinion piece, “We should increase support for the agricultural researchers, in the U.S. and around the world, who are developing remarkable new drought and flood tolerant crop varieties. The results of this research will be essential if the agricultural sector is to continue to meet food demand in the face of weather variability.” READ MORE »

A new book warns that we will experience a global famine in the next century without investment in agricultural technologies, and a Chicago Council on Global Affairs fellow shares that progress has been made towards an African agricultural revolution.

New book describes argues for increased investment in agricultural technologies

A new book by Australian journalist Julian Cribb titled The Coming Famine lays out the global challenges that will contribute to a global famine, particularly the lack of fresh water, arable farmland, and fossil fuels. The book provides some solutions to preempt a global food shortage. The author argues that investment in agricultural research (including agricultural technologies) must increase dramatically in order to produce enough food to sustain the growing population and avert food shortages this century. Read more.

Technology will help promote a food secure Africa

African leaders are finally speaking out about the need for an agricultural revolution says  Roger Thurow,  Senior Fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in a piece in The Globe & Mail . Thurow writes, “the way to an agricultural revolution in Africa has long been clear: promote research, put the latest technology in the hands of the farmers and boost investment in rural infrastructure.” Read more.

What we can learn from the March to Restore Sanity

Inspired by Jon Stewart’s March to Restore Sanity, NPR correspondent Adam Frank writes that the call for sanity and reason should extend to science, including genetic engineering. Sound science and evidence should be driving civil discourse, not extremism. He writes, “The point is not to have your views summed up in a single sentence but to remain open to evidence and argument.”  Read more.