As leaders met in Rome last week, the  International Food Policy Research Institute released a report which  chronicles 20 good ideas that have helped feed millions of people.

The report, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, showcased initiatives ranging from milk cooperatives among women farmers in India to land reform in China, and they demonstrate what it takes to boost food production.

World leaders and representatives also signed onto a declaration “to take urgent action to eradicate hunger from the world,” and recognized estimates that agricultural output will have to increase by 70 percent between now and 2050.

The entire article can be read herehere.

The International Food Policy Research Institute report can be read here.

The UN World Food Summit Declaration can be read here.

Paul B. Thompson, the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics At Michigan State University, calls on liberals and progressives to take a more objective look at the benefits of agricultural biotechnology, particularly in their ability to benefit farmers in developing countries.

Mr. Thompson said that understanding how agricultural biotechnology can benefit the poor is going to require a sophisticated and complex discourse and its success depends on people of good will taking the time to understand and consider the arguments in some detail.

Read the full story here.

Faced with increasing drought, farmers in Kenya’s eastern district of Mbeere South have started growing drought-tolerant crops to meet their food and subsistence needs instead of the staple maize.

Declining maize yields, due to climate variability and high fertilizer costs, have caused prices to soar.  Four new drought-tolerant pigeon pea varieties are being piloted in Mbeere, and specialists say the crop will be able to grow in a variety of environments.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is providing farmers with free seeds, saying there is a need to increase planting of drought-tolerant crops. Read the full story here.

In a fight against world hunger, three internationally known research organizations based in St. Louis– the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital – have formed the Global Harvest Alliance. The Global Harvest Alliance will seek to create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world’s hungry and undernourished.

The alliance will examine the best approaches to fight malnutrition and work to improve enriched foods by testing and distributing genetically modified crops to boost nutritional content. The goal is to provide affordable crops to farmers who will then be able to produce more nutritious foods.

Dr. Mark Manary, a pediatrician who will serve as the alliance’s director, has provided an enriched peanut-butter mixture to malnourished children in the sub-Saharan country of Malawi that has led to high recovery rates.

Read more about the Global Harvest Alliance’s work bringing together scientists who help the hungry and research specific needs and crops here.