ENOUGH Movement looks at how to feed 9 billion people by 2050

As the global population grows to reach 9.7 billion people in 2050, experts say there will be a 60 percent increase in demand for meat, milk and eggs. The ENOUGH Movement, a global community dedicated to finding practical solutions for a food-secure world, explores potential solutions that can not only increase efficiency, but safeguard animal welfare in an environment where emerging diseases are a threat.
“Building a food-secure world is one of the greatest challenges of our time. To address it, we all need to understand the challenges we face,” said Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco Animal Health, in an email interview with WATTAgNet. “This issue is solvable, but it is crucial that we turn to the practices and techniques that will have a lasting impact.”
Simmons who, when working for Elanco in Brazil, saw hunger firsthand, said: “If you have seen kids who haven’t eaten in a couple days, or even a day, the wrongness of that screamed out at me. There’s a wrongness in hunger,” and that is what makes him so passionate about the movement.
“It’s easy to be passionate when you look at what’s at stake: In just 35 years, we’ll have more than 9 billion neighbors and an expansive middle class … and we will require more of our planet’s resources than we can afford,” he said. “The facts are clear, and we can’t continue down the path we’re on to reach the goal of a food-secure 2050.  We need sustainable solutions that protect animal, human and environmental health.”’

The four pillars

The four pillars of the ENOUGH Movement are innovation, choice, access and nutrition.
“We believe there is enough innovation available to feed 10 billion people, (but) the challenge is ensuring producers have the ability to access that innovation,” Simmons said.
“By implementing innovative farming techniques that increase efficiency, enabling both farmer and consumer choice, eliminating global trade barriers and ensuring proper nutritional nourishment, we can write a positive ending to this story,” he said.
Farmers and producers are crucial to the movement. “Farmers matter more than ever,” Simmons said. “There are fewer farmers, so we depend on them more. Their voice is more credible than any other. … It is not possible to build a food-secure world without innovation, and innovation is their business.”
The ENOUGH Movement stresses that producers and consumers must have choices in how to operate.
“Consumers deserve the ability to choose the food that fits their budget, taste and nutritional needs, and farmers should be able to choose the production methods that work best for them,” Simmons said. “In developed countries, consumers often have choices when it comes to their food supply. They may even have a broad selection of stores, products, brands and price points to consider, but not everyone has the means or desire to treat food as a luxury item or a lifestyle choice.”
The movement says reducing key global trade barriers is one of the most effective ways to eliminate hunger and provide nutritious, sustainable and affordable food. It also says nutrition is a crucial part of global health and development.
“Hunger is a disease, and there are many diseases in the world that … we don’t have the answer to. Hunger is not one of them. We can solve hunger. … That realization is what keeps me working passionately towards my goal of seeing a food secure world for my kids,” Simmons said.

FAO: Nepal quake will affect food security, agriculture

• 

  fotolia/Byelikova Oksana

  Nepalese farmers plow a rice field in Chitvan, Nepal.

  From WATTAgNet:
  FAO says it will take $8 million to help Nepalese farmers rapidly recover lost agricultural inputs and resume preparations for the rice sowing season.
  The impact of the recent major earthquake on food security and agricultural livelihoods expected to be very high.
  Farmers who miss the planting season that is expected to start late May will be unable to harvest rice – the country’s staple food – again until late 2016. This, together with likely losses of food stocks and wheat and maize harvests, would severely limit food supplies and incomes in the South Asian country, where around two-thirds of people rely on agriculture for their livelihood, FAO said.
  Last week, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake – the country’s biggest in 80 years – shook Nepal, killing thousands while limiting access to food and leaving some 3.5 million in need of food assistance.
  Million of people across the country’s Western and Central Regions are affected by the disaster, including its largest cities, Kathmandu and Pokhara.
  But some of the country’s most vulnerable agricultural areas, particularly the villages in mountain and hilly regions, also bore the brunt.
  Although damage to the agriculture sector has not yet been assessed, affected families have likely lost livestock, crops, food stocks and valuable agricultural inputs. At the same time, the disaster has destroyed markets and infrastructure, including roads and crucial irrigation and drainage canals. As a result, internal trade, including the movement of emergency assistance, is severely constrained.
  Before the earthquake hit, FAO estimated Nepal’s wheat production in 2015 at 1.8 million tons – some 5 percent below last year’s record harvest. But crop damage and farmer’s inability to harvest in earthquake-affected areas are likely to change this forecast.  In addition, disruption of planting operations for rice and maize may severely reduce the planted area for these crops in the most affected areas.
  In addition to distributing crop-production packages to secure this year’s harvest, FAO and partners will support the Nepalese government in preventing further loss of livestock by providing animal feed and veterinary supplies that will ensure animals stay healthy and productive for families relying on them for food and income.

Cargill Executive Chairman Greg Page maps path to a more food-secure world

Speaking at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Global Food Security Symposium, Cargill Executive Chairman Greg Page urged attendees to be mindful of four principles that can help ensure all people have access to safe, affordable and nutritious food.
Noting the symposium’s focus on leveraging the global food system to fight malnutrition and improve health, Page said Cargill has a role to play in ensuring access to enough food for the undernourished and in bringing healthier foods to the market to help improve diets and health.
“There are four things we ought to be mindful of when we think about creating a more food-secure world,” said Page. His “ought to's” include:


• Appreciating the importance of price
• Honoring the principle of comparative advantage
• Embracing the power of emulation
• Ensuring society’s comfort with the science of producing food
On the importance of price, Page said we need to appreciate the value of prices to signal the world’s farmers what to produce. “We saw this in 2012 when, in the face of a severe drought in the U.S. Midwest, prices motivated farmers from South America and Central Europe to increase production, ultimately mitigating the drought’s impact on global food production and ensuring people’s access to safe, affordable, nutritious food,” said Page.
He said it will also be increasingly important to honor the principle of comparative advantage in food production. “To produce the food the world will need in the most economically and environmentally sustainable way, we need agriculture and trade policies that encourage farmers to cultivate the crops best suited for their growing conditions and then trade the surpluses with others,” said Page.
Page also said that the cumulative effects of individual behaviors can be a powerful force for improving food security and fighting malnutrition. “The Chicago Council’s Healthy Food for a Healthy World report acknowledges the power of emulation in its findings that women – in part because of their influence over their families’ diets – will be critically important to combating malnutrition,” said Page.
Expanding on this point, Page said food industry leaders need to enlist and engage consumers in understanding the role of science in the food system, both nutritionally and environmentally. “Science and technology are important not only to producing more food in a more sustainable way, but also to our ability to improve food safety, reduce food waste and make food more nutritious and healthful,” he said.
“Finding solutions to end hunger and reverse the consequences of poor nutrition requires trust, transparency and collaboration,” said Page. “We look forward to being part of this important work.”

Farmer voice matters in building consumer trust

Farmers will need to engage in conversations with consumers for the long term if they are to build trust in today’s food system.
That was among the messages delivered by Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity (CFI), at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) 96th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show. “Farmers are accustomed to fixing things in the next production cycle. Building trust with consumers has a longer horizon,” said Arnot, who presented findings from CFI’s 2014 consumer research into consumer skepticism, trending attitudes and trust-building transparency. The research was sponsored, in part, by AFBF.
The survey of 2,005 people looked into the concerns and attitudes of three groups of people: moms, millennials and foodies. Millennials are described as those ages 18-34. Foodies are people who are more likely to seek out information about food and food ingredients and to share information about cooking, food safety and nutrition.
CFI’s research showed that keeping healthy food affordable is a high priority for all three segments. Arnot called that finding “very good news” for those involved in food production when it comes to talking with consumers. “Everything you do can be talked about in that context,” he said. “If we address consumer concerns in that context, our messages will be better received.”
Arnot said that demonstrating shared values is more effective than demonstrating competence when it comes to building trust with consumers. “The goal is not to win a scientific argument, but to find meaningful and relevant ways to introduce science and technology. We’re really good at answering the ‘can we’ question. We need to get better at answering the ‘should we’ question. Educating the public is important, but it isn’t sufficient,” said Arnot.

‘Enough is enough’ when it comes to food security debate, says Elanco president

Elanco on February 13 introduced "Enough: The Fight for a Food Secure Tomorrow," a report focused on the realities and solutions available to achieve global food security. The report, written by Elanco President Jeff Simmons, advocates for farmer access to innovative tools in order to feed a growing global population and reduce natural resource use.
During his presentation at "Feeding the World 2014: Sustainable Solutions for a World Crisis" hosted by The Economist, Simmons shared the main messages of the report, explaining that innovation, choice and trade will be the core solutions to tackle food security.
Simmons laid out today's food security realities: The world's middle class will more than double in size to nearly 5 billion as the world population grows to 9 billion by 2050. However, the fastest part of that growth will actually occur between now and 2020. This means billions of people demanding access to better diets, including an increased consumer demand for meat, milk and eggs.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reports we'll need 60 percent more meat, milk and eggs to meet demand by 2050. But, we're already overusing the Earth's resources; it currently takes 1.5 years to regenerate one year of resource use, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
"We are currently on the fast track to a crisis and a global shortage of basic foods such as meat, milk and eggs. For example, today, we are meeting global milk demand primarily by adding cows. On this path, we will need 40 million more dairy cows in order to meet consumer demand for dairy products in 2050. This is simply not sustainable," Simmons said.
"Health experts recommend that we have two glasses of milk each day for optimal health. Today, we have access to about one glass of milk on average globally - though clearly some have access to more or less. Given current productivity level and population growth, 500 million people won't have access to one glass of milk in 2020 if we don't make a change," Simmons explained about the crisis. "By 2040, nearly half the population, or 4.5 billion people, won't be able to meet their nutritional needs of two glasses a day.
"But alternatives exist. We have - either available right now or in the pipeline - the technology that would enable us to meet consumer demand in 2050. But we need to give farmers the ability to access and utilize this technology and ensure that proven innovation and farm practices which maintain health and productivity are available for use," Simmons continued.
In the case of milk demand, using innovations to increase a cow's annual production by as little as a half a glass a day or 4.75 ounces would fill the gap and freeze the footprint of milk production. It would mean 66 million less cows, 747 million tons less feed and 388 million acres less farmland - roughly the size of Alaska. Further, it would save 618 billion gallons of water - enough to supply the annual household consumption of the 11 largest U.S. cities.
Simmons' call for technology is backed up by food security experts, including organizations such as Heifer International.
"By providing farmers with the tools and training they need, we can empower them to feed the world's growing population. Innovation, appropriate technology and access to markets are key to helping smallholder farmers achieve autonomy and self-reliance, paving the way from poverty to prosperity," said Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari. Elanco partners with Heifer International to address shared goals for creating a food secure future, including volunteer and financial support for Heifer International initiatives.
Simmons' "Enough" report also features new research that helps detail the reality of consumer perceptions and the path for ensuring global food security with innovation, choice and trade. The research includes original consumer perception and survey data from The Nielsen Company and Elanco researchers as well as in-depth new research regarding nutrition and food chain solutions for ensuring food security.

US, China representatives discuss food security, safety issues

More than 300 people - including U.S. and Chinese government officials and representatives from the U.S. and Chinese poultry and feed grains industries - gathered in Beijing November 10-18 for the inaugural Sino-U.S. Poultry Industry Forum. The forum marks the first time that the U.S. poultry, soybean and grains industries have come together with the Chinese poultry industry for bilateral dialogue on key issues and imminent challenges such as food security, food safety and sustainability.
Co-sponsored by UIPDP (USAPEEC International Poultry Development Program) and the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), the U.S.-China forum preceded two industry-to-industry workshops in Vietnam aimed at strengthening the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnamese poultry industries. More than 250 people took part in those workshops in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Supported by USDA and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the U.S.-China Forum was co-organized by the UIPDP with assistance from the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), the U.S. Grains Council, the Food and Agriculture Export Alliance (FAEA), the China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA) and the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce (CFNA).
Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse was among a group of high-level officials from USDA, MOA, the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to take part in the Beijing forum.
In his remarks, Scuse said the forum was a milestone by which to measure the advancement of the strong relationship that is developing between the U.S. poultry and feed sectors and their Chinese counterparts.
USAPEEC / UIPDP President Jim Sumner said that the forum "symbolizes that our industries are well integrated and rely on close cooperation and a working relationship that assures that poultry is produced in a safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. The wide range of Chinese and U.S. organizations that are supporting this forum shows that poultry quality and safety begins at the farm, but it is the responsibility of every segment of the food chain to enhance and assure that safety is maintained and improved all the way to consumption."
Speakers included Dr. Don Jackson, former CEO of Pilgrim's and JBS USA; Gordon Butland, noted international protein economist; Dr. Sarge Bilgili, an Auburn University poultry scientist; Dr. Shelly McKee, director of technical programs at USAPEEC, Sumner and numerous other U.S. and Chinese experts on food safety and bio-security.
The Vietnam workshops, meanwhile, were more production-oriented, focusing on best management practices to help the Vietnamese industry achieve its food safety goals. Sponsored by UIPDP and USSEC, the workshops attracted the full support of USDA and the Vietnamese Poultry Association (VIPA).
The relationship between USAPEEC and VIPA began in 2005, when USAPEEC arranged for the industry to donate two containers of U.S. chicken leg quarters that were auctioned to help finance VIPA's educational program for its members to battle highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Workshops included talks on best management practices by Jackson and Joon Wong of OSI, along with presentations by Dr. Tran Cong Xuan, president of VIPA; Dr. Dau Ngoc Hao and Nguyen Xuan Duong of the Vietnam Department of Livestock Production; along with talks by Sumner and McKee. Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Brian Ronholm also participated in the Hanoi workshop, while Dwight Wilder, agricultural attaché, participated in the Ho Chi Minh City workshop.

Symposium will focus on meeting food demand

On May 21, 2013, leaders from science, government, business and civil society will meet at an all-day symposium to urge U.S. leadership in mobilizing science, increasing trade and capitalizing on the power of business to meet future food demand. The Global Food Security Symposium will meet at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
At the symposium, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs also will release a new report, "Advancing Global Food Security: The Power of Science, Trade, and Business," which puts forward four broad policy recommendations, composed of 21 specific actions to define the next steps for U.S. global food security policy. A full copy of the symposium agenda can be found via the Chicago Council on Global Affairs website. 

Feed congress to focus on food security

The third Global Feed & Food Congress runs April 20-23, 2010, in Cancun, Mexico. It is being organized by the International Feed Industry Federation with technical assistance from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Delegates will discuss their work to address food security issues, especially in developing countries.The feed group’s chairman, DaveCieslak , said, “We are working closely with FAO in this area because we recognize the importance of what they are doing, and because we understand that fully focused feed production will play an increasing role in achieving greater food security.”
The Mexican Feed Manufacturers Association, CONAFAB, will host the congress.