Earlier today, we introduced some of the farmers who will participate in the Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable. Here is what other farmers have to say about the state of global agriculture.

What misperceptions about global agriculture would you most like to correct? Why do you think the misperception exists?   

Grant Dyck (Canada): The biggest misconception is around biotechnology.   Many activists would have you believe it is harmful to the environment and yet I see it as having a very positive effect on producing crops in a more sustainable way (i.e. more production per acre with less harmful environmental impacts relating to soil, water and energy use).

Roberto Peiretti (Argentina): The greatest misperception about global agriculture is the lack of a proper comprehension of the crucial and so far non-replaceable role that the agricultural global food system plays at producing the food for humanity. Our civilization, as we know it at the present, would not be viable without agriculture. To properly understand the meaning of the previous statement it should have taken into consideration that if hypothetically agriculture would stop its operation today, the global food stock in average would be exhausted in around sixty days.

Global food production on agenda at global conference

The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) begins this Sunday in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and will focus on the challenges facing global food production. Five keynote and 66 expert speakers in three areas — energy, health and sustainability — will present during the four-day conference, which will have about 1,000 international delegates.

Keynote speakers include Julian Cribb, who authored the recently released “The Coming Famine: Risks and Solutions for Global Food Security,” and Prem Warrior, senior project manager with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program.

Biofortification of staple foods still necessary

According to a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the biofortification of staple foods is still relevant in poor countries, despite gains in income and urbanization. The authors of the study, titled Integrated Economic Modeling of Global and Regional Micronutrient Security, suggest that low-income rural populations will continue to derive much of their diets from staple foods, such as cereal grains in South Asia, and roots and tubers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Kofi Annan awarded Norman E. Borlaug medallion

The World Food Prize Foundation this week awarded the Norman E. Borlaug medallion to Kofi Annan during the first-ever African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Annan’s home country of Ghana. According to the World Food Prize press release, Annan was selected for the award based on his “international leadership as Secretary-General of the United Nations and as chairman of the board for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In both roles, Annan has brought significant attention to the issue of global food security, most notably in establishing the UN Millennium Development Goals during his time at the United Nations.”