Resource Magazine November/December 2014

from the President Engage!

ngage—my simple chal- Providing the world of 2050 with ample safe and nutri- lenge to you this year is to tious food under the ever-increasing pressures of climate make a mark where you change, water limitations, and population growth will be a E are. ASABE is comprised monumental challenge that requires engagement of ASABE of outstanding engineers and scien- members with their colleagues and thought leaders from tists who are helping the world with around the world. Inside this issue, you will find perspectives their work. Whether you are design- on the topic by contributors ranging from farmers to futurists. ing a part to make precision agri- The challenges of food security are daunting, but I can think culture more effective, evaluating of no other profession that’s better equipped or better quali- the kinetics of cell growth to better fied to tackle them. I hope you are as inspired as I am by understand a biological process, these articles. exploring ways to extend knowl- As I close, I would like to thank Donna Hull, ASABE’s edge on grain storage to partners recently retired Director of Publications. For 34 years, around the world, or working in another of the many areas that Donna worked to enhance our publications, from Resource ASABE represents on equally important tasks, you are making to our refereed journals. These publications are a key part of an impact. As an ASABE member, you also have an opportu- our communication to the world, and their quality reflects nity to help make your Society as strong as it can be. the efforts of our members and Donna’s vision to share our I would like you to consider how to engage ASABE in stories and research. In particular, her efforts to digitize our a variety of ways. It could include striving to make your Technical Library were invaluable. Join me in wishing her Section more relevant and attractive to fellow members. It all the best in retirement. could include reaching out to partner societies to identify I am energized and excited to serve as your 2014-2015 ways to share our influence. It could be as small as inviting President. I look forward to seeing you at Society functions, an old classmate or two to renew their membership if you and I welcome any ideas you have to make this a great year haven’t seen them in a while. Whatever it is, be intentional for ASABE. about making ASABE better this year. Terry Howell Jr. [email protected]

events calendar

ASABE CONFERENCES AND INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS ASABE ENDORSED EVENTS To receive more information about ASABE conferences and meetings, 2014 call ASABE at (800) 371-2723 or e-mail [email protected]. Nov. 1-7 2014 21st Century Watershed Technology 2015 Conference and Workshop. University of Waikato, Feb. 9-11 Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference. Hamilton, New Zealand. Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Nov. 2-7 2014 World Engineering Conference on May 3-5 ASABE 1st Climate Change Symposium — Sustainable Infrastructure. Abuja, Nigeria. Adaptation and Mitigation. Chicago, Illinois, USA. 2015 July 26-29 ASABE Annual International Meeting. May 31- 2015 18th International Soil Conservation New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. June 5 Organization (ISCO). El Paso, Texas, USA. Nov. 10-12 Irrigation Symposium. July 5-8 CSBE Conference & Annual General Meeting. Long Beach, California, USA. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 2016 July 17-20 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Orlando, Florida, USA.

2 November/December 2014 RESOURCE engineering and technology for a sustainable world November/December 2014 FEATURES November/December 2014 4 First Word Vol. 21 No. 6 Greatest Challenge Ever Faced ... Feed the World in 2050 Tony Grift and Martin Bohn, guest editors Magazine staff: Darrin Drollinger, Publisher (interim), [email protected]; Sue Mitrovich, 6 When I Think about Poverty Managing Editor, [email protected]; Glenn Robert S. Zeigler Laing, Technical Editor, [email protected]; Melissa Miller, Professional Opportunities 8 A Futurist’s View and Production Editor, [email protected]; 4 Richard Worzel Consultants Listings, Sandy Rutter, [email protected]. 9 A Glimpse of Our Future Food System Freija van Duijne Editorial Board: Chair Tony Grift, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Past Chair, 10 Toward Food Security in 2050 Brian Steward, Iowa State University; Board Judith D. Schwartz Members Thomas Brumm, Iowa State University; Victor Duraj, University of 11 A Long Way to Go California, Davis; Israel Dunmde, Mount Royal John Schueller University, Calgary; Timothy Mains, University of Tennessee; and Shane WIlliams, Kuhn 12 The Importance of Chemical Inputs North America. 8 Paul Miller Resource: Engineering & Technology for a 13 Playing Politics with the Future Sustainable World (ISSN 1076-3333) (USPS 009-560) is pub- Charles Merfield lished six times per year—January/February, 14 Combatting the Pollinator Crisis with Genomic Biology March/April, May/June, July/August, Claudia C. Lutz, Christina M. Grozinger, Gene E. Robinson September/October, November/December— by the American Society of Agricultural and 15 Adapting Industrialized Farming to Ecosystem Realities Biological Engineers (ASABE), 2950 Niles James Lowe Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659, USA. Photosynthesis: The Final Frontier POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 16 Resource, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI Stephen Long and Xin-Guang Zhu 49085-9659, USA. Periodical postage is paid Small Changes Have Big Effects at St. Joseph, MI, USA, and additional post 16 17 offices. Nicholas Kiggundu SUBSCRIPTIONS: Contact ASABE order 18 Re-Imagining Agriculture department, 269-932-7004. Mark Kibblewhite COPYRIGHT 2014 by American Society of 19 A Menu of Solutions Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Craig Hanson Permission to reprint articles available on request. Reprints can be ordered in large 20 Fish: A Must for Global Food Security quantities for a fee. Contact Sandy Rutter, Stephen Hall 269-932-7004. Statements in this publication represent individual opinions. 21 The Social Science Perspective

Resource: Engineering & Technology for a 24 Stephen Gasteyer and Craig Harris Sustainable World and ASABE assume no 22 The Soil-Carbon Opportunity responsibility for statements and opinions expressed by contributors. Views advanced in Diana Donlon the editorials are those of the contributors and 23 A Truly Wicked Problem do not necessarily represent the official posi- tion of ASABE. Otto Doering 24 Sustainability at the Landscape Scale ON THE COVER Marita Dieling and Dyno Keatinge Multifunctional landscape in Myanmar, courtesy of INBAR. 25 Sobering Numbers Bruce Dale 28 DEPARTMENTS 26 New Roots for Ecological Intensification 2 President’s Message American Society of Timothy Crews, Thomas Cox, Events Calendar Agricultural and Lee DeHaan, Sivaramakrishna Biological Engineers 29 Professional Listings 2950 Niles Road Damaraju, Wes Jackson, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659, USA Pheonah Nabukalu, David Van Tassel, Last Word 269.429.0300, fax 269.429.3852 30 [email protected], www.asabe.org and Shuwen Wang A Tribute to Norman 27 Genetic Engineering Will Drive Borlaug Food Security Kenneth Quinn Mary-Dell Chilton 28 Feeding the World Sustainably Michael Chaplinsky first word Greatest Challenge Ever Faced ...

Meanwhile, bioenergy cur- n 2011, Resource published a special issue on the “Farm of the rently makes up 4.5% of the U.S. Future.” That issue gave us the opportunity to ponder what agriculture energy budget, which is negligi- would look like in the future—it was all optimism and fun. The cur- ble, especially considering the rent issue, titled “Feed the World in 2050,” has a more pressing pur- increasing demand for energy in Ipose and a more serious tone. the future. Feeding the predicted global population of nine billion in 2050 and The problem is a matter of beyond will be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, dwarfing scale: humanity consumes 86 mil- both the Manhattan Project and Project Apollo. Here’s why: so far, lion barrels of oil per day (mbpd), humanity has solved virtually all its problems by throwing more resources or about 1,000 barrels each sec- at them—a good example is the Green Revolution—but the era of mas- ond. The U.S. alone, with just 5% sive resources and simple solutions is coming to an end. of the world’s population, uses Most readers of Resource are well aware that the main problems we 20 mbpd. Try replacing that with face are climate change, water wars, nutrient depletion, and soil degrada- an equivalent amount of any alter- tion. I agree that these are tenacious problems, but we could, as Stephen native. And most of the oil is con- Colbert suggested, keep moving north until we are plowing the Arctic tained in the Middle East—not Circle. In my view, the biggest threat to our survival is energy. It doesn’t exactly the friendliest of environ- take a PhD in macroeconomics to predict that finite resources are, well, ments. finite. And yet we have no plan for what to do when the energy runs out. We count on politicians to We have developed the technology to look back in time to the beginning Tony Grift make the major decisions, but ASABE Member of the universe, but when it comes to looking a century ahead, we’re rather they never look beyond the next Associate Professor uninterested. Or maybe we don’t like what we see. election cycle. And any politician Department of Agricultural At the birth of the United States in 1776, the main source of energy and Biological Engineering who implements strategies that was wood. That continued until 1885, when coal surpassed wood. The University of Illinois at hurt people in the short term will Coal Age lasted until 1950, when coal was overtaken by oil, which con- Urbana-Champaign, not be re-elected. So, although the [email protected] tinues to be our main source of energy. When the oil is finally depleted, problem of feeding the world in which energy source will replace it? Will we have a Renewables Age, or 2050 can be explained with a spreadsheet, solving it is a very different maybe a Fusion Age? Will it be back to coal and wood? Anyone? matter. It was easier to put a man on the Moon. President Obama acknowl- In the 1950s, Dr. M. King Hubbert famously predicted that U.S. oil edged the problem in a speech he gave back in 2012: production would peak in 1971. He was spot on. His idea boils down to a Gaussian discovery curve followed by a similar Gaussian production “We’ve seen how spikes in food prices can plunge millions into curve that trails discovery by about 20 years. This curve can now be poverty, which in turn can cause riots that cost lives and can lead to insta- applied to world oil production. It is clear that world oil production has bility. And this danger will only grow if a surging global population isn’t peaked, and fracking and tar sands only delay the inevitable. I would also matched by surging food production.” like to add the “Grift coupling” here (since I stole the idea from Hubbert), stating that any activity that is highly correlated with oil pro- I would like to remind Mr. Obama that surging food production will duction will follow the same curve. If we don’t somehow decouple food not happen unless we develop long-term solutions to our looming energy production from oil, then the End of Oil will drag us down to widespread problems. Forget about hope, let’s change! poverty and hunger. If there is a positive side to feeding the world in 2050, it’s that this What about solar, wind, and water power? All of these alternatives topic is near to the hearts of ASABE members and their colleagues around can be debunked on the back of an envelope; they simply can’t replace oil. the world. In fact, when we solicited contributions, we received so many In addition, a large percentage of the population does not understand that useful and intelligent responses that ASABE will publish a second collec- electricity is not an energy source, but only a carrier. The same goes for tion in Resource next year! Lastly, great issues like this would not happen the “hydrogen economy.” Hydrogen is another energy carrier, and it has if it weren’t for the unwavering support and creativity of the Resource serious storage issues. We can generate electricity from coal, too, but dur- staff. Kudos to them, and my thanks. ing the eight hours it takes to fill the electron tank of your $100,000 Tesla, about 65% of that energy has been lost. What’s more disturbing is that this is really not so bad, considering that the energy efficiency of the trans- portation sector is just 21%!

4 November/December 2014 RESOURCE ... Feed the World in 2050

ix months ago, while for their ideas and advice. As the responses came in, they revealed the real mulling over their morning complexity of this challenge, and I wondered whether the world has ever coffee in the café at the successfully addressed such a pressing need on such a huge scale. University of Illinois In 2000, the United Nations defined eight Millennium Development SCenter for Genomic Biology, an Goals (MDGs), which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, agricultural engineer and a plant promoting gender equality, empowering women, and developing a global geneticist envisioned a cross-soci- partnership for development, among other goals. The non-binding ety magazine on the theme “Feed Millennium Declaration was signed by 189 UN member states, who the World in 2050.” This special expressed their intention to aggressively work toward these goals using publication would combine measurable targets within a timeframe of 15 years. ASABE’s Resource with CSA The recently released 2014 progress report notes that several of the News, the member magazine for MDG targets have been met. These include the reduction of extreme the American Society of poverty by 50%; saving millions of lives by successfully fighting Agronomy, Crop Science Society HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; providing improved drinking water of America, and Soil Science for more than 2.3 billion people; and promoting gender equality by elim- Society of America. Letters went inating disparities between boys and girls in primary school enrollment. out (“You have been selected as a However, critics question the success of the MDG program, as progress potential contributor...”), and the toward many other targets has been insufficient. In particular, sub- Martin Bohn response was gratifying. Saharan Africa seems to be disconnected from any positive development. The problems we face are significant: too many people live in CSA Member But back to the coffee. The Associate Professor poverty, global climate change is really happening, and the world’s popu- brew is good, the pastries are Department of Crop Science lation is steadily increasing. It may seem that the size of the solution must tasty, but more importantly, the University of Illinois at match the size of the challenge, but that isn’t entirely true. Global prob- Urbana-Champaign, exchanges between the Dutch- lems can have local solutions. [email protected] born engineer (my colleague Tony Here is an uplifting example: Neema Urassa, a village-based agricul- Grift) and the German-born plant tural advisor in the Kiteto district of Tanzania, has improved the lives of breeder (me) are always engaging. I look forward to this part of my daily hundreds of local farmers by supplying them with improved maize seed routine. Tony and I delve into the news of the day, discuss scientific prob- and new information on crop management (www.feedthefuture.gov/coun- lems, and ask ourselves why others haven’t thought of the brilliant solu- try/tanzania). It’s simple!—better seed and a few changes to the way tions that we are coming up with! Our views often differ, but it’s those dif- maize is traditionally grown in the region have had a dramatic impact. ferences that make our conversations so thought-provoking for me. Truphosa Losioki, one of the local farmers, was skeptical about har- Germans, like me, are not known for our optimism, but I trust human vesting more maize with the new farming practices. But she tested the ingenuity to solve the challenges we face. Science constantly extends the system on a small plot and, based on the results, decided to make the boundaries of the known universe, and we increasingly understand how investment of buying the improved seed. She planted the seed on 10 acres life on this planet is organized and how it functions. We might not be able and harvested 138 bags—a record yield, considering that the previous to feed the population of 2050 using the tools of today, but we will make average yield was just 30 bags on the same 10 acres. She sold 100 bags discoveries that pave the way to future food security. on the market and commented, “I intend to grow maize this way on many Tony isn’t convinced. His confidence in scientific progress is not more acres of land, in order to complete my house and send my children strong enough, given the enormity of the problem. “It will be impossible to Dodoma University.” to produce enough food to feed nine billion people by 2050,” he tells me. Good seed, and some good information about how best to use it, As he writes in his accompanying foreword, the world economy is hooked changed this family’s future, empowered a woman, and led the way to edu- on oil, a finite resource that humans have already exploited beyond its cating her children. Imagine what great things can be accomplished if we peak. We know that the oil is running out, but we ignore it. Given the pro- put into action all the ideas from our contributors in these special issues jected population increase and the rising demand for food, the coming of Resource and CSA News. End of Oil will have severe consequences. Maybe I’m an optimist after all. To gain more understanding about the problem of feeding the world Top photos (l to r) © Kenishirotie, Luis Tejo, and Romdersen|Dreamstime and in 2050, we asked scientists, engineers, economists, architects, and jour- by Keith Weller, courtesy of USDA-ARS. nalists—people at the forefront of research and reporting on this issue—

RESOURCE November/December 2014 5 When I Think About Poverty Robert S. Zeigler

hen I think about poverty, I think Innovations in production practices, is planted, and how much area is planted. back to the 1990s when I was driven by research, will help balance these Combining this information with plant growth traveling in Bangladesh. Driving forces and help us stay where we are. However, models, we can improve food security in the through the countryside after the “where we are” is not good enough. The chal- rice-consuming world. Add this to the decades Wrice harvest, I saw some piles of dirt out in a lenges of climate change are also going to of experiments on crop nutrient management field. I stopped to investigate. The accompany- affect agriculture, especially rice cultivation. that we’ve conducted across Asia, and we have ing photo shows what I found. A farmer squats We need rice varieties that can tolerate higher the tools that will enable farmers to make real- in front of a hole he has just dug out. He’s hold- temperatures and withstand floods. We also time decisions about managing their crop. ing rice panicles. need rice varieties that can tolerate drought and All that being said, the ultimate question What’s going on here? The hole was a rat’s saline soils, particularly in coastal areas. And is: how do new rice varieties actually perform nest. After the harvest, the landless we need production practices that are more effi- in farmers’ fields? On 31 July 2008 at 1:17 in poor of Bangladesh go out into the the afternoon, Mr. Asha Ram Pal stood fields to find these nests. They exca- in his rice field after two successive vate them to take back the rice that the floods and considered his options. His rats have stolen. To me, that’s poverty. neighbors laughed and told him to plow Poverty is more than not having it up because “you’re not going to get money in your pocket—it’s not having any crop out of that field.” He didn’t food to feed your children, not having plow it up, and in October of that year he enough to provide them a decent educa- had a good harvest. tion or health care. When we talk I asked Mr. Pal how the rice tasted. about dealing with food shortages, He said he didn’t know because he sold we’re also talking about poverty. the entire crop as seed to his neigh- That’s something we need to be more bors—the same neighbors who told him cognizant of as we discuss food security. to plow up his field in July. The world continues to have huge The moral here is “always listen concentrations of poverty, and most of when people laugh at you, and then do these concentrations are in areas where rice is cient, that demand less water and other inputs, the opposite of what they say.” Seriously, Mr. grown. If we want to overcome the problems and that produce consistently good yields. Pal’s flood-tolerant rice is already in the hands of hunger—and poverty—then rice must be We can now address these challenges in of more than 5 million farmers in Asia. I would part of the solution. ways that we never could before. Ten million like to suggest that a second Green Revolution Global demand for rice will continue to years ago, rice species started to evolve. They in rice started at 1:17 in the afternoon on 31 grow. Every past prediction that demand for diversified in some very difficult environments, July 2008, when Mr. Pal decided not to plow up rice will taper off has been proven incorrect. some droughty, some stony, and some shady. his field. Current population trends suggest an additional That genetic diversity, in combination with Food security in 2050 requires that two billion people every 12 to 15 years. In the rice- advances in molecular biology and computa- Green Revolutions succeed: the first revolu- consuming world, another billion people means tional power, allow us to tap into incredible tion, started in the 1960s, to continually 100 million tons of additional paddy needed to wealth from diverse environments. We now have increase yield to meet ever-rising demand, and feed them. That’s an additional 65 million tons the ability to cross wild relatives with domesti- a second revolution to help the poorest farmers of milled rice every decade and a half. cated rice to bring in traits separated by millions who have no choice but to plant in the most Where will this additional rice come of years of natural selection and evolution. unfavorable environments. from? Ideally, it will come from existing crop To help achieve this, the International Rice In addition to our research efforts, we land, primarily in Asia. But land is moving out Research Institute (IRRI) maintains the world’s must help people prepare for catastrophic of agriculture, especially in Asia, where rice largest collection of rice germplasm—more times. Even under ideal conditions, rice farm- fields are being steadily converted to other than 120,000 rice accessions and wild relatives. ers have a tough job. And under no circum- uses. Labor is also moving out of agriculture. The IRRI genebank also contains wild relatives stance should farmers have to steal back their When I visit a rice-growing region, I always ask of rice, vital additional resources to help us harvest from rats. meet tomorrow’s challenges. the farmers: What do you want your kids to be Robert S. Zeigler, Director General, International Rice when they grow up? Rice farmers never, ever We also need to understand how a rice crop Research Institute, Los Baños, The Philippines, [email protected]. want their own children to be rice farmers! behaves, and new technology will help with that. Satellite imagery and cloud-penetrating Mid-page photo © Thanamat|Dreamstime. radar will show us where rice is planted, when it Photo on facing page by the author.

6 November/December 2014 RESOURCE

A Futurist’s View Richard Worzel

eeding the world’s population in 2050 responsible for a further 17.4%. That adds up to may well be one of the most difficult almost one-third [of all GHGs].” Farming is things humanity has ever done, and for also the leading producer of methane and many reasons. nitrous oxide, and runoff of nitrogen fertilizers FFirst, the global population is projected to contributes indirectly by causing toxic algae grow by roughly 30%, from 7.26 billion today blooms. Ironically, decreasing GHGs largely to 9.6 billion by 2050, according to the United means decreasing waste by increasing effi- Nations. As developing countries continue to ciency, which, done properly, increases profits. move into the middle class, and as more people Being responsible may actually be lucrative. move into cities, more people will eat more Third, we have to start using water expensive calories, notably meat and dairy responsibly, and here farmers can take the lead. products. This is the pattern that China exhib- Normal, gravity-fed irrigation is estimated to ited during its period of greatest growth, from waste about a third of the water involved, 1960 to 2000. The population doubled, but food whereas Israeli-type drip-feed irrigation wastes consumption tripled because calories con- only about a tenth. And no-till farming retains sumed per person increased from 1600 to 2600 more groundwater—but encourages weeds, per day. Similarly, the FAO projects that while which GMOs would help contain. the global population may grow by 30%, global Perhaps the ultimate way we will feed food consumption may grow by 50% to 70%. 9.6 billion won’t involve traditional farming How can this be supported? Well, one way at all but completely new ways of doing would be if prices rose enough to stifle the cities means that city dwellers will demand things. There are already plans for vertical move by developing countries into the middle more water, forcing politicians to divert water farms, in glass-walled skyscrapers, with racks class, and by having hundreds of millions of from agriculture. of plants growing hydroponically in revolving poor people starve. And that would not be out So problems in feeding the world in 2050 trays, spreading the sunlight around. This of the question, because farming is going to abound. But if we want to ask: What would would also reduce water use and transportation become more difficult in the decades ahead. have to happen for us to be able to feed 9.6 bil- costs, provide more protection against adverse While yields grew dramatically from 1960 lion people by 2050 instead of starve them, then weather, and make it easier to contain pests. to 2000, averaging about 3% a year, they are now the answers become even more complicated, in Or we might produce food directly by growing at rates closer to 1%. Indeed, they may large part because they require new technolo- using emerging techniques, like 3D printing, to fall, perhaps dramatically, because of climate gies—and the widespread application of com- print foods to order from base ingredients. change. The International Maize and Wheat mon sense, which is always in short supply. Human organs are already being printed in this Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has projected First, the use of GMOs in farming has way, and some food proteins have been pro- that if average global temperatures rise by 2°C, to spread much more widely around the duced as well, including fish and beef. This then wheat yields may fall by 20%. Climate world. Europe in particular has been squeamish could lead to steaks without steers, and food change will certainly disrupt normal growing about allowing GMOs and has blackmailed without farms. It’s too early to tell how expen- patterns. Spring floods can damage or delay large parts of the developing world, notably in sive this would be, or whether it would be scal- planting, as happened in the Canadian Prairies in Africa, into banning them, even though there is able, but it has the potential to shake up one of 2011 and 2012, while droughts devastate yields, no credible scientific evidence indicating that the world’s most fundamental industries. as happened in the U.S. this year. Climate change they cause health problems. And the food fash- While there is a lot of uncertainty about will also mean fewer pests killed off by harsh ionistas of North America, who are trying to how we can feed the world in 2050, one thing is winters and more pests moving from equatorial force a return to small-scale, organic, and local absolutely certain: We cannot just do more of regions into temperate zones. farming, will have to realize that, if they get what we’re doing now. Farming—and the gen- Even more critically, we are running short their way, the result will be that billions of peo- eral public’s attitudes toward farming—will of water. The growth of any ecosystem is lim- ple will starve. have to change, and change radically. ited by its scarcest necessity, and in a growing Next, we have to get serious about Richard Worzel, a leading futurist, consultant, number of regions, that’s water. Not only are we reducing greenhouse gases. Climate change Chartered Financial Analyst™, and author of Who will cause problems for everyone, but it will Owns Tomorrow?, Toronto, Canada, www.future- overdrawn at the river bank, using more water search.com. for farming than we receive in annual precipita- inflict serious pain on farmers. Farms are also tion, we are also drawing down major aquifers major contributors of GHGs. According to the Architectural renderings courtesy of Asian Cairns, IPCC, “farming accounts for 13.5% of green- Sustainable Farmscrapers for Rural Urbanity, faster than they can be replenished, using up Shenzhen, China. Courtesy of © Vincent Callebaut reserves of fossil water that took centuries to house-gas emissions, and land-use changes Architecte, Paris. form. Meanwhile, the continuing growth of (often cutting down jungle for fields) are

8 November/December 2014 RESOURCE A Glimpse of Our Future Food System Freija van Duijne

e all know that there are huge Alternative plant-based challenges in feeding nine billion proteins people, and eradicating hunger The ecological footprint of and malnutrition, in a world meat production is much larger Wplagued by climate change and water shortages. than that of protein-rich plants. Fortunately, people aren’t just sitting and wait- A large proportion of our food ing for things to happen. Instead, the global food crops is used as animal feed for system is undergoing deep, transformational meat production. This realiza- changes on all levels. Here are six of the main tion, together with recurrent developments that we see right now that will infectious diseases, animal wel- pave the way to our future food system in 2050: fare issues, waste disposal issues, and the obesity epidemic Awareness of the need to reduce waste and other human health con- Based on the shocking statistics, such as cerns, is leading many people to global food wastage of 1.6 gigatons in 2007, it adopt diets in which meat has a is clear that one of the solutions to global food less prominent place. Meatless shortages is preventing loss and waste through- Mondays, veggie Thursdays, out the food chain. It all starts with awareness and flexitarianism (part meat, in every part of the food chain. Sophisticated part vegetarian) have become logistics for matching supply and demand, common concepts, all of which along with improved technologies for storing are opening up opportunities fresh produce and other perishables, are prior- for plant-based protein-rich The Vegetarian Butcher, purveyor of a new generation of meat ity topics for R&D in agriculture and food sci- foods. Meanwhile, the era of substitutes, in The Hague. the bland veggie burger has ence. The biggest waste of food, in terms of high-tech vertical indoor farming is also on the passed. There are now many tasty meat alterna- energy use, is the food that we leave on our rise. It is not hard to imagine that many of our tives, even for hardcore meat lovers. plates and discard in our kitchens. Smaller por- empty buildings and urban rooftops will be tions, innovative doggy bags, food sharing, and used for food production in the near future. tips and tricks for cooking with leftovers are The sustainable food movement Looking at these trends collectively, we simple ways to improve our wasteful lifestyles. Seeking out sustainably produced food has can see the contours of a future food system. become a means by which people show that With clever solutions to prevent waste and The emergence of the bio-economy they care about the world, the ecosystem, and boost productivity in an ecologically sound The throwaway economy will come to an the farmer. Sustainable food is about healthy way, the world population can have greater end. We are starting to see the value of eating, ecological responsibility, fair produc- access to healthy, nutritious foods. Balanced resources that were previously considered tion (preferably local), with little or no waste plant-based diets can lessen the demand for ani- waste streams. Valuable components in plant- and pollution. Sustainable food is also about mal protein in affluent societies. Sustainable based materials have great potential for use as being connected to the food system, and getting foods are already becoming mainstream. bioplastics and biofuels, and they may hold to know the people who work to grow and pre- One thing is clear: everyone has a role to components that are useful in pharmaceuticals, pare the food we eat. It’s a positive movement play. Farmers, the food industry, governments, food ingredients, and other high-value applica- that helps us maintain a healthy relationship scientists, and consumers are all bringing new tions. with food and build awareness about the need perspectives, new technologies, and new prac- for a sustainable future. tices to the global food system—and thereby Climate-smart agriculture taking steps toward feeding the world in 2050. In recent years, climate-smart agriculture Urban food production systems That’s how progress happens, and that’s how the has become an established term in sustainable Part of the sustainable food movement is future will be built. farm management and in integrated solutions to about bringing food closer to the cities. Neighborhood farms and gardening projects Freija van Duijne, foresight practitioner, Ministry of global food security, environmental quality, and Economic Affairs (DG Agriculture), on temporary economic welfare. Climate-smart interventions have popped up everywhere. Most of them are assignment based at The Hague Centre for Strategic focus on optimizing energy efficiency, soil qual- artisanal and low tech, but they are all about the Studies in The Netherlands: [email protected], ity, water productivity, and fertilizer inputs. All of joy of working the soil and celebrating food www.futuremotions.nl. these factors contribute to climate-resilient agri- production. With the emergence of affordable Top photo © Alison Grippo|Dreamstime. cultural systems in economies all over the world. sensors, LED lighting, and other technologies, Mid-page photo courtesy of The Vegetarian Butcher, www.vegetarianbutcher.com.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 9 Toward Food Security in 2050 Judith D. Schwartz

s a journalist, I’ve devoted the last tion. Soil—that fine, living layer that cloaks the categorized as degraded for their food and couple of years to looking at soil as a earth—is where food, farming, and climate livelihood. What’s important to keep in mind hub for our many global chal- meet. To a large degree, our capacity to feed the about desertification, and, more generally, land lenges—and for solutions. So when it world in the coming decades depends on how degradation, is that it’s not something that sim- Acomes to the growing of food, I take a soils’-eye we treat the soil. If we approach food produc- ply “happens.” Rather, it’s caused by such soil- view. Ultimately, food can only be as good as tion from the standpoint of extracting from the harming actions as overcultivation, the soil on which it was grown. Moreover, the soil, we risk depleting this resource. If, how- deforestation, poor irrigation design, poor live- biological processes that drive crop production ever, we seek agricultural practices that regen- stock management, and the use of technology depend on the workings of numerous cycles— erate the soil, we not only promote food ill-suited to the landscape. the carbon, energy, water, and nutrient cycles— security but also ameliorate other environmen- Many of the problems we attribute to each of which moves through the soil. If, based tal problems looming over us. Soil, you see, is climate change are in fact the direct result of on my research and on-the-ground reporting, I the connector. soil loss and degradation. Exposed soil loses were to offer up a prescription as to how we, Let’s zero in on some current challenges to carbon. Low-carbon soil retains less water, so collectively, can keep our population fed, it food security. Right now, in food-producing rainfall evaporates or flows away. Without would be this simple: our practices, actions, areas around the world, the best-laid plans are moisture, the ground becomes a hot plate, and and policies should be assessed according to haunted by the specter of weather abnormali- microorganisms die. This dynamic sets up the whether or not they are good for the soil. ties, notably floods and droughts. But once we scenario for flooding (when rains arrive) or I see this as particularly relevant at a time bring land function—the ability of land to sus- drought (when it doesn’t)—the type of situation of impending climate instability. For while it’s tain plant and animal life—into the picture, we that’s led to famine in, say, the Horn of Africa, not often discussed as such, soil health is a open up new possibilities for building security widespread food insecurity, and global finan- lever for climate change adaptation and mitiga- into the food supply. An emphasis on floods cial losses in the tens of billions of dollars and droughts—whether there’s not enough rain annually. Functioning land has soil carbon, or too much all at once— plant cover, and the capacity to hold moisture. leaves the impression that In the event of heavy rain, water is absorbed by we’re at the mercy of the ele- the soil and filters into aquifers. With more ments. By contrast, a focus on moisture in the “bank,” such land can support land function creates a sense plant and microbial life when rain is sparse. of agency. Specifically, it An appreciation of land function sheds draws our attention to the new light on strategies to bolster food security. many ways we can enhance For example, the best genetics in the world soil’s ability to retain water, won’t increase yields if we attempt to grow organic matter, and microbial crops on depleted soil. While heavy nitrogen life, thereby offering fertilizer can temporarily mask soil depletion, it resilience in the face of flood- ultimately alters the soil’s microbial balance ing and dry skies. and pH in a way that reduces fertility, leaving Although largely invisi- farmers on a costly and counterproductive ble to the general U.S. public, agro-chemical treadmill. land degradation due to The stresses to food security are daunting, human impact is a huge prob- and the prospect of changing weather patterns lem across the globe. adds to the collective alarm. However, there is According to the United good news: a shift toward considering land Nations Convention to function introduces proven restorative practices Combat Desertification, each that boost resilience to weather extremes while year upwards of twelve mil- minimizing the cost of inputs. It’s all a matter of lion hectares (thirty million starting with the soil.

acres) of productive land is Judith D. Schwartz, journalist and author of Cows lost to desertification. This Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of means an area the size of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth, Bennington, South Africa is slipping away Vermont, USA, [email protected]. every decade. Some 1.5 bil- Top photo © Roman Milert|Dreamstime. Land management approaches that integrate animals and crops lion people, primarily in dry- Bottom photo, Cold Moon Farm, Jamaica, Vermont, are often used to build soil health. USA, by Tony Eprila. land regions, rely on land

10 November/December 2014 RESOURCE A Long Way to Go John Schueller

nowing the back-breaking ability to maximize sustainability tedium of growing up on a and profit. family dairy, grain, and To maximize our progress vegetable farm, I have toward solving the needs of 2050, sig- Kspent most of my career trying to nificant changes are needed in the improve the design, manufacturing, agricultural public sector. State and control, and use of agricultural federal departments of agriculture, equipment, or teaching others to do extension services, and land-grant so. Improved equipment makes universities have a long history of farming better for the farmer, as contributing to the advancement of well as for the crops and soils that agricultural practices. However, iner- produce the food, fiber, feed, and tia and administrative demands are fuel that our modern consumer soci- hindering our progress toward meet- ety requires. Improved equipment ing the needs of 2050. For example, should maximize the productivity despite much rhetoric and many feel- and efficiency of a farming opera- good proclamations about support for tion in a way that is economically, interdisciplinary and multidiscipli- environmentally, and socially sus- nary approaches, the current report- tainable. ing, staffing, financing, and other Good dairy farmers treat every The author’s first crop map, drawn when he was nine years old. administrative structures, regulations, and procedures effectively discourage cow in the barn as an individual to cially to encourage the adoption of yields maps maximize her production and health. But as for work between disciplines. and maps of other crop and soil properties, Dealing with these constraints is time- the feed for those cows, farmers may treat all leading to increased production while protect- their fields the same, no matter what the differ- consuming and distracting when one discipline ing the environment. is involved, but the detrimental effects are mul- ences are between or within fields. It would be Farmers should first be encouraged to better if farmers could respond to field variabil- tiplied when multiple disciplines are involved. respond to these maps with intelligent analyses Something must be done to remove the com- ity the way they respond to differences in their leading to appropriate strategic decisions, such cows, and that response should be an integrated mon perception that interdisciplinary and as changing field boundaries, removing areas multidisciplinary work is painful—and optimum response to spatial variability, com- from production for economic or environmen- bined with temporal variability and the weather. detrimental to one’s career—so that the gaps tal reasons, adding drainage or irrigation, or in knowledge between disciplines can be Just as computer technology has allowed changing agronomic practices. They should mass customization in manufacturing, it has the removed. One reason for the creation of then be encouraged to make appropriate tactical research centers was to solve this problem, but potential to treat each square meter of soil and decisions, such as controlling water, fertilizer, each plant in the best way possible. Therefore, it seems to have led instead to more administra- or pesticide applications in a spatially and tem- tive burdens. And those research centers have my goal for 2050 is that plant agriculture will porally variable manner as the season be optimized for maximum sustainability at siphoned potential funds from smaller activities progresses. This requires better technologies in that are generally more efficient in generating small spatial and temporal scales. That, such areas as sensors, computer algorithms, rather than fancy technologies, is what preci- significant outcomes. and dynamically accurate variable-rate applica- Another needed reform in the public sion agriculture is all about. For example, pre- tors. More importantly and more difficult, it cision agriculture can mean applying the right sector is the removal of matching fund require- requires the agricultural knowledge of how to ments. Truly innovative and revolutionary rate of the right fertilizer at the right location to utilize these tools in an optimal way. maximize production without contributing to projects of the type needed to make disruptive Although the agricultural research com- changes in crop production to feed the world in nutrient runoff. Or it can mean applying herbi- munity has made strides in the right direc- cides only to weeds and at the moment of peak 2050 will not result from approaches that are tion, it has a long way to go. Engineers need to “business as usual.” Unfortunately, those herbicidal efficacy. provide better tools that can accurately respond The overpopulated world of 2050 is not approaches are comfortingly familiar, and to temporal and spatial variability and the com- therefore receive widespread support. going to be fed by the United States alone. plex biological, chemical, and physical nature of Accordingly, I will continue to share informa- crop production. Soil scientists, crop scientists, ASABE Fellow John Schueller, Professor, Mechanical tion during my half-dozen international trips and Aerospace Engineering and Agricultural and and agronomists need to better characterize the Biological Engineering, University of Florida, yearly, as well as through a variety of media for variability of soils and crops, and determine the Gainesville, USA, [email protected]. technical and farmer audiences. I intend espe- responses that farmers should make to that vari- Top photo © Pamela Hodson|Dreamstime.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 11 The Importance of Chemical Inputs Paul Miller

he use of agricultural chemicals to pro- and diseases are decreasing. The use of a rel- vide crop protection and nutrition is fun- atively small number of crop protection agents damental to maintaining and improving creates problems of resistance; hence, those the yields for almost all food-related chemicals that are still available become much Tcrops throughout the world. However, the use of less effective. The use of nutrient chemicals is such chemicals presents important challenges also restricted in Europe to manage losses to for both human and environmental safety. The ground and surface water sources. engineering associated with the application of Because of herbicide resistance, large these chemicals is fundamental to achieving the areas of arable land in the U.K. are now being optimum balance between promoting and pro- cultivated to control grass weeds in cereal tecting crop growth and managing the risks asso- crops, resulting in high energy inputs and soil ciated with off-target exposure and residues in conditions that are not optimum or sustainable harvested crops. This engineering challenge has for crop production. New ways of applying been the subject of my research and develop- chemicals will be needed as we move toward ment interests for more than 30 years. 2050. While the use of robots, for example, to Most crop protection chemicals are apply mechanical treatments to control weeds applied as water-based sprays from hand-held, has potential for some small-area specialty vehicle-mounted, or aerial platforms. The deliv- crops, other solutions are required for crops grown on large areas. Key components of these ery system needs to ensure that: A water-based spray hitting a plant leaf. • The correct dose is applied to the target new systems are likely to be: area, this dose being the minimum • Sensing systems that define target required to achieve the required biolog- • Improved control of the delivered dose requirements with greater precision. ical outcome. by using better spray rate controllers, • Delivery systems with high levels of • The dose reaches the target where it will GPS-controlled auto-section switching, spatial and temporal resolution. be most effective in such a way that all of and pressure management valves on • The ability to match the physical form the target sites receive the required dose. hand-held equipment. of the delivered agent (chemical and/or This may involve treating a crop area as • Reduction of spray drift by using air- biological) with the target requirements uniformly as possible or targeting partic- induction nozzles, improved control of and minimize off-target losses. ular weed plants within a crop area. boom height, and an improved under- • A scale of operation that ensures the • The losses from the treated area, either standing of the mechanisms that lead to overall timeliness of the application. as airborne drift or leaching through the spray drift as explored in computer sim- Researchers in other disciplines will be soil profile, are minimized. ulation models. needed to work with agricultural engineers • The applications are made in a timely The chemicals required for crop nutrition to achieve improved chemical use to deliver manner with respect to crop growth have mainly been applied as solids (prills, gran- the higher crop yields needed to feed the stage, weed/disease/insect development, ules, and dusts), although there is an increasing world in 2050. The most important of these dis- and application conditions, since timing trend for these materials to be applied as liquids ciplines will be those that develop the new has a major influence on the effective- to achieve high levels of accuracy in delivery. chemical and biological agents required to mod- ness of most chemical treatments. Where Many of the requirements for effective applica- ify and control crop growth. In addition, plant substantial areas need to be treated, the tion of these materials, and the engineering breeders have a key role to play by providing work rate is therefore a key performance advances needed to address them, mirror those resistant varieties and crop traits that can aid the parameter for many systems. related to pesticide sprays, with the same basic early detection of weeds, diseases, and pests. Engineering developments over the past principles applying to both. Chemical use will need to be an integral part of two decades have made important contributions While significant progress has been future production systems, with agricultural toward addressing the above issues, with exam- achieved in the way agricultural chemicals are engineers working closely with agronomists to ples relating to: applied, much remains to be achieved. In deliver high yields of high-quality crops. • The size of equipment and the speed at Europe, the registration of useful pesticides is Paul Miller, Specialist Adviser, Silsoe Spray which it can operate. Ground-based being lost because the chemicals are being Applications Unit, National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Silsoe, U.K., [email protected]. machines are now larger and able to detected at unacceptable levels in ground and operate effectively at higher speeds and surface waters. It is becoming increasing dif- Top photo © Kornwa|Dreamstime. Mid-page photo courtesy of the author. with greater boom widths, mainly ficult, both technically and economically, to because of improved vehicle and boom register new chemicals, and the result is that suspension systems. the chemical options for controlling pests

12 November/December 2014 RESOURCE Playing Politics with the Future Charles Merfield

have been involved in food production extinction event. If we want to be able to under- “feed the world” not only feeds the current pop- since studying commercial horticulture in take frontier science in the future, we must first ulation but also increases future populations. the U.K. in the late 1980s and then manag- direct our efforts to sorting out the mess we The Green Revolution is therefore a double ing organic vegetable farms in the U.K. and have made of our home, the Earth. failure: it has failed to achieve its fundamental NewI Zealand for six years. From there, I alter- Having said that, we know what is funda- aim of feeding the world, after half a century of nated between working on organic farms and mentally required to create a sustainable food trying, and it has also doubled the human pop- post-graduate study researching organic veg- production system: close the lithospheric nutri- ulation, thus doubling the size of the problem. etable seed production, followed by a postdoc at ent cycles; use only renewable energy; ensure Unfortunately, human population manage- Teagasc in Ireland, and then setting up the that soil degradation rates are lower than pedo- ment has a rather bad name, from Malthus’ Future Farming Centre in New Zealand. I have genesis; vastly expand physical, biological, and solutions, which are utterly reprehensible to therefore been involved in all aspects of sustain- ecological management to replace failing agri- today’s ethics, to China’s “one child” policy. able food production, and I consider my real- chemicals; and treat agriculture as the founda- Fortunately, we have population management world farming experience critical to tools that are not only compatible informing my research and my polit- with current moral norms but are, in ical and ethical views of agriculture. fact, considered highly positive— In particular, I am focused on education, empowerment of women, using science to find practical (i.e., accessible healthcare, and an effec- will work in real-world farming), tive social safety net, especially for permanent, and sustainable solutions retirement—all of which are reliably to optimize (not maximize) agricul- successful at halting population tural production while minimizing increase. What’s lacking is the the externalities of farming, espe- political courage to discuss popu- cially those that degrade the bio- lation management as we discuss physical and ecological systems that food production, and to ensure make agriculture and civilization that the large proportion of the possible in the first place. This human population without educa- process includes packaging the tion, empowerment, and security research results in a form that’s opti- can participate in these benefits. mal for farmers and growers to In the end, the solution is fun- implement, i.e., good old-fashioned damentally political, and every part extension, but brought into the 21st of society—private citizens, govern- century by being based on sociology ment, business, and the professions and psychology, and treating the of science, engineering, law, and Herbicide alternative: Interrow hoe guided by computer vision. farmers as equals. medicine—have a responsibility In a nutshell, we need much and a role to play. more funding for agricultural research and tion of civilization that it is, not just a collection Let’s approach the problem of feeding the extension, and for attracting the best brains of market commodities. What is therefore world from a different perspective, 180° from to agriculture—for both science and farm- really required is the will to implement these the standard perspective of matching food pro- ing. I agree with Professor Iain Young’s com- changes and to complete the third agricultural duction to current populations. Instead of just ments at the 2014 “Soil Change Matters” revolution—from industrial agriculture to eco- producing more food, by whatever means, we symposium that developed countries are spend- logical agriculture. need to design agricultural systems that are sta- ing very large amounts of money on projects However, the elephant in the room of the ble at geological time scales, and then match such as the Mars Rover and the Square “feeding the world” debate, in my humble the human population to the level of food that Kilometer Array that, while great science, are opinion, is the flip side of food production— such sustainable systems can provide. To do also rather frivolous considering that many fun- that is, food consumption. High-school otherwise simply won’t solve the problem of damental biophysical processes of the Earth physics and ecology show that the population feeding the world; it will just delay the (climate change, soil degradation, the nitrogen of any apex predator is solely determined by its inevitable crash. prey’s population. Decrease the predator’s food deluge, etc.) are now known to be in such a per- Charles “Merf” Merfield, Head, BHU Future Farming ilous state that the continued existence of civi- supply, and its population will decline; increase Centre, Biological Husbandry Unit, Canterbury, the food supply, and the predator population New Zealand, [email protected], lization is in the balance, and some are worried www.bhu.org.nz/future-farming-centre. that Homo sapiens may join the sixth mass grows. Humans are clearly Earth’s apex preda- tor. Therefore, increasing our food supply to Photos by the author.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 13 Combatting the Pollinator Crisis with Genomic Biology Claudia C. Lutz, Christina M. Grozinger, Gene E. Robinson

n our struggle to achieve sustainable food for a larger challenge: we must find novel ways all crops, we must greatly expand our under- production, humankind has enjoyed the to reduce the environmental burden that polli- standing of the basic biology of a broad number benefits of a silent cadre of allies that, in the nators are forced to bear and support the health of pollinator species, beyond honeybees. past, has been taken for granted. Modern of managed and wild species. Genomic biology can play an important Iagriculture relies on the pollinating activities of Combatting these factors to halt or reverse role in advancing our understanding of pollina- diverse animal species including bees, flies, pollinator loss will require an integrated tor health. Genomic resources have been devel- wasps, butterflies, moths, bats, and many oth- approach spanning basic research, applied oped for several pollinator species, including ers. Pollinators, especially bees, play a crucial research, and information dissemination creat- honeybees, native bees, butterflies, and moths, role in the production of three quarters of our ed by a large-scale coordinated effort between as well as for some of their pathogens and par- major global food crops, including the vegeta- scientists, extension educators, stakeholders, asites. Harnessing these tools and resources has bles, fruits, and nuts that provide the majority policymakers, and the public. A free flow of significantly accelerated our studies of pollina- of our vitamins, minerals, tor biology and health. Genomic studies have plant-based fats, and been used to identify the pathogens and stres- micronutrients. Pollination sors associated with CCD, demonstrate that is also required to produce pathogens flow readily from managed honey- seed for crops such as sugar bee colonies to other pollinator species, and beets and other root vegeta- improve our understanding of the complex bles, as well as hay crops micriobiota, both parasitic and beneficial, used to feed meat and dairy found in pollinators. Genomics has also been animals. All told, nearly used to examine the effect of pathogens, para- 90% of flowering plant sites, pesticides, and nutritional deficits on species use animal-mediat- honeybee health and wellness. ed pollination, and thus We must extend this research strategy to pollinators play a vital role other key pollinators and use the findings to in the heath and productivi- develop diagnostics for monitoring stressors in ty of both natural and agri- the field, predictive models of responses to cultural landscapes. stressors, and management approaches to miti- Events of the past few gate these stressors. It also should be possible years have forced us to con- to use genomic tools to breed more resilient front the possibility of a pollinator populations and develop methods to world without this nutri- combat the effects of pathogens and parasites in tional abundance. The an ecologically sound manner. health of our pollinators is at risk. In the U.S. information among these groups will ensure the Global food security, human health, and and worldwide, there is evidence for long-term effective and rapid application of research healthy ecosystems all depend on robust pol- decline in populations of pollinating species, results and newly developed strategies and, linator populations. By building bridges including honeybees, bumblebees, humming- equally important, provide scientists with criti- between communities of scientists from a mul- birds, and bats. Many other species, for which cal insights into the key questions and problems titude of disciplines, extension educators, there are no long-term data, face similar eco- that need to be addressed. stakeholder groups, policymakers, and the pub- logical challenges. Pollinators are threatened by We need a wide array of research efforts lic, we can develop a strong network that effec- multiple factors, including pathogens, para- to devise the best ways to rescue pollinator tively combats pollinator decline with a unified sites, pesticides, and inadequate nutrition due populations. Finding solutions will require a strategy that reaches from genomes to ecosys- to reduced abundance and diversity of flower- combination of many approaches—spanning tems. ing plants species. These and other stressors genomics, disease ecology, toxicology, behav- ior, ecological modeling, and economic analy- Claudia C. Lutz, Media Communications Specialist, have been accumulating, largely unheeded, for Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at ses. To develop effective management and con- years. Many of them originate from modern Urbana-Champaign, USA, [email protected]; agricultural practices. servation practices that protect pollinators, we Christina M. Grozinger, Professor, Department of Perhaps the most publicly recognized need to understand the mode of action of stres- Entomology and Center for Pollinator Research, sors such as exposure to pesticides, parasites, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA, example of this problem is colony collapse dis- [email protected]; and Gene E. Robinson, Director, and nutritional deficits, as well as how those order (CCD), a phenomenon characterized by Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at dramatic loss of honeybee colonies that was stressors enhance each other’s harmful effects. Urbana-Champaign, USA, [email protected]. first observed in 2007. CCD is a call to action Furthermore, to ensure effective pollination of Photos courtesy of Zachary Huang, ww2.beetography.com.

14 November/December 2014 RESOURCE Adapting Industrialized Farming to Ecosystem Realities James Lowe

rowing up in the heart of the U.S. corn changed disease agents are exotic species with deeper and more meaningful ways. Advanced and soybean belt, son of a vocational little pressure in their new ecosystem to keep high-throughput genomics is one of these new ag teacher, and around farms and them in check. technologies that will improve our ability to farmers from a very young age, I have As a scientist and clinician, I have a broad control animal disease. When these advanced alwaysG been fascinated with all aspects of how perspective on the constraints that we face in genomics techniques are used on both the we provide food to the world. Professionally, I addressing disease challenges while maintain- microbiome and the host and coupled with cel- have explored that fascination as a food animal ing production. As a pork producer, I am in awe lular biology to understand gene expression and veterinarian, pork producer, row crop farmer, of the technologies used in crop production to metabolism, a holistic assessment of disease scientist, and teacher—sharing ideas across the quickly and accurately address these chal- can begin. By using these holistic approaches, entire spectrum of food production, processing, lenges. However, while GMO technology and we can begin to understand how our animal and distribution. Over the last 20 years, I have precision chemicals, for example, have been management systems affect disease resistance observed a mind-boggling improvement in the very effective for crop producers, animal ag at the host and population level, allowing us to output and efficiency of agriculture as a result needs a different approach to disease man- adapt our management strategies to optimize of applying industrial processes and tech- agement. The genetic complexity of animals, production efficiency and prevent disease over niques. While our current the lack of consumer tolerance for GMOs, and the long run. level of operational efficien- These technologies can cy in animal agriculture is be revolutionary, and imple- impressive, updating our menting them will require a “fence row to fence row” new model of collaboration approach to livestock produc- across a wide diversity of dis- tion will be necessary to meet ciplines. This type of collabo- the world’s food needs over ration is happening, but the next 35 years in a sustain- traditional academic practices able way. and funding sources do not We normally use the yet fully support this new term “fence row to fence research model. However, it’s row” when talking about corn heartening that researchers and other commodity crops, are generally excited about but animal production building diverse teams among involves the same approach. academics, clinicians, and We have focused on short- industry. Non-traditional term maximization of eco- sources of funding, while lim- nomic returns by maximizing ited in scale, have also the density of a single live- become involved in these stock species of a very lim- novel teams. ited range of genotypes in So what am I going to do narrow geographic regions. This approach has the slow rate of genetic change in even the most to help feed the world by 2050? I am going to led to huge leaps in operational efficiency, but technologically advanced breeding programs focus on building cross-functional teams to it has also created an ever-increasing list of epi- limit our ability to use genetic approaches to address the complex problems of animal pro- demic diseases, which create huge economic reduce the impact of disease. In addition, the duction. In particular, we will design and losses, massive reductions in operational effi- rapid emergence and change of pathogens develop animal management systems that are ciency, and a high degree of variability in our makes the development of new vaccines and more resistant to disease and that provide a food supply. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus antibiotics difficult. Many novel pathogens are low-cost, safe supply of meat in a way that pre- (PEDv) is only the latest example. not suitable candidates for immuno-prophy- serves that planet we live on by using fewer This vulnerability is the result of massive laxis because they are immuno-evasive. resources per kilogram produced. I realize populations in close proximity that are highly Increased societal pressure to limit antibiotic that’s a very specific goal, but it’s achievable, interconnected and that have a low degree of use, with the aim of prolonging antibiotic effec- and it’s a good start. resistance to new diseases and changes in exist- tiveness in humans, also limits our ability to use James Lowe, Clinical Instructor, College of Veterinary ing diseases. This means that any infectious antibiotics against bacterial agents. Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, agent can quickly spread through the entire Fortunately, we are at the forefront of sev- USA, [email protected]. population. In ecosystem-speak, new or eral new technologies that will allow us to Photos by Keith Weller, courtesy of USDA-ARS. understand animal production systems in

RESOURCE November/December 2014 15 Photosynthesis: The Final Frontier Stephen Long and Xin-Guang Zhu

ield potential is the yield per unit land yield. Second, the major food crops area that a genotype can achieve at a appeared to be limited in their genetic given location in the absence of abiotic potential to set and fill seed or grain. and biotic stresses. To a first approxi- Third, it was reasoned that if photo- mation,Y it is the product of the amount of solar synthesis is the key to yield, then energy available at a location during the growing selection by breeders would have season and the efficiencies with which the crop resulted in increased photosynthesis. intercepts that energy, converts it into biomass, So what has changed our thinking? Improvement in wheat yield per unit land area is declining. and partitions that biomass into the harvested Ironically, the answer lies in global product, such as grain. This last efficiency is climate change. which occurred at a time when Earth’s atmos- commonly known as the harvest index. Global climate change is dominated by phere contained many times the CO concen- The Green Revolution achieved large rising CO2 levels, and this realization encour- 2 tration of today. Re-introducing this mechanism increases in the yields of our major food crops aged many field experiments investigating the to crop chloroplasts could, in theory, increase by both genetic improvement of yield potential direct effects of elevated CO2 on crops. CO2 is photosynthetic efficiency by 60%. and improved agronomy. Yield potential was a limiting substrate for photosynthesis in C3 Computer-based design can also be increased by improving energy interception crops, which include wheat and rice. The pri- applied at the level of the leaf canopy. A recent efficiency and almost doubling the harvest mary effect of CO2 elevation is increased pho- analysis has shown that altering the distribution, index. Examination of modern cultivars grow- tosynthesis. An overwhelming body of data angles, and albedo of leaves within a canopy ing under optimal conditions shows interception now shows that crops grown with elevated CO2 substantial increases the photosynthetic effi- efficiencies of almost 90% and harvest indices in field conditions have increased photosynthe- ciency of solar energy, water, and nitrogen use. of 60%. These two efficiencies are therefore sis and invariably result in increased yields. In total, combined improvements at the cell, close to their biological limits, since there will So can photosynthetic efficiency be leaf, and canopy level could more than double always be a period between planting and leaf improved through genetics? Unlike leaf the conversion efficiency of today’s major C canopy closure when the crop cannot intercept growth and harvest index, there is little geno- 3 crops, which is no longer possible with intercep- all of the incoming energy, and some biomass typic variability in photosynthesis among C3 tion efficiency and harvest index, the other two must remain in the stems, leaves, and roots. crops. There is also little variation between efficiencies that govern yield potential. Approaching these biological limits is a species; the mechanism in soy is identical to Although we are far from achieving these key factor explaining why the rate of that in wheat and rice, so there is little to select improvements in practice, bioengineering of improvement in yield per unit land area is from. However, synthetic and systems model species, including tobacco, has shown declining, as has been shown for wheat (see approaches through bioengineering offer new significant and reproducible improvements graph) and for rice—our two most impor- opportunities to achieve variation and thereby in conversion efficiency in controlled envi- tant crop sources of dietary calories. increase efficiency. ronments. It now remains to be seen if these In contrast to interception efficiency and Over the past 50 years, the mechanism of improvements can be replicated in realistic harvest index, conversion efficiency has photosynthesis has been studied to the extent field conditions with major food crops. changed very little. Conversion efficiency is that it is now the best understood of all plant Recent analyses show that, given current determined by crop photosynthesis integrated processes. All the discrete steps have been improvement trajectories, future global yields over the growing season, minus respiratory described, and the relevant genes, proteins, and of the four largest food crops will fall far short losses. Typical net conversion efficiencies of metabolites are well described. As a result of of projected 2050 demand, possibly by as much intercepted solar energy into biomass energy this knowledge, and with the availability of as one-third. Genetic improvement of photo- for modern crops, averaged over the growing high-performance computers, the entire synthetic efficiency is an unexplored opportu- season, are around 0.5%, yet the biological lim- process has been represented as a complete dynamic model, allowing millions of permuta- nity to deliver significant yield increases before its are between 4.5% for C3 crops and 6% for tions to be tested to find optimal approaches to that happens. C4 crops (i.e., plants in which the first products increasing efficiency. At the same time, bio- Stephen Long, Gutgsell Endowed University Professor of CO2 assimilation are three-carbon and four- carbon compounds, respectively). engineering has become routine for our major of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences, Institute for crops, allowing practical testing of computer- Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana- Why has selective breeding failed to Champaign, USA, [email protected]; improve conversion efficiency? Three rea- based designs. Xin-Guang Zhu, Professor, Plant Systems Biology, sons. First, as practical means to measure leaf New areas of research are emerging from CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, these new techniques. For example, cyanobac- Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, photosynthetic rates became available in the [email protected]. 1960s and 1970s, little or no correlation was teria, from which crop chloroplasts evolved, Top photo © Yurok Aleksandrovich|Dreamstime. found between leaf photosynthetic rate and have their own CO2 concentrating mechanism that was lost in the evolution of land plants,

16 November/December 2014 RESOURCE Small Changes Have Big Effects Nicholas Kiggundu

Here’s an example of how mitigate the impacts of climate change. Better simple technology can make a big water management techniques will increase difference. Recently, I designed a water use efficiency, as seen in the irrigation livestock watering tank for a com- schemes in the developed world. Other water munity in Nakasongola that management strategies, such rainwater harvest- includes a pump to deliver water to ing, can also be adopted with simple technol- a watering trough that provides ogy and minimal training. access for 50 head of cattle at once, These efforts will improve the current many more than the traditional, crop water productivity of many cereal crops in inefficient earth-lined watering developing countries, which is currently in the holes. The tank has a capacity of range of 0.3 to 0.8 kg m-3, to about 1.5 kg m-3. 3,200 m3, which is large enough Use of fertilizers in crop production also has to for 1,350 head of cattle during the be supported by providing access to fertilizers dry season and also provides some in rural areas, and better marketing strategies of the community’s domestic water for farm produce are needed. In Africa, rural needs. In addition, I trained a farmers have limited access to markets. Too group of farmers in Rakai on irri- often, these farmers are cheated by middlemen gation-saving technologies, and who fix the prices for their produce. these farmers have been able to The short-term strategy for feeding the diversify their production and world in 2050 should be based on polices that increase their income by growing support agricultural development and improv- vegetables in the dry season. ing crop water productivity in the various These simple improvements farming systems of the developing world, have empowered the community. including proper management of irrigation, For the first time in over 20 years, establishment of farmer training centers, Smallholder irrigation of cabbage. the people no longer need to appropriate use of fertilizers according to crop migrate to the lake, 20 km away, to needs, rainwater harvesting, and improvements am a soil and water engineer by profession. water their livestock during the dry season. In in postharvest handling. I live in Uganda, and my outreach activities addition, the children look healthier, and their In the long term, the global focus should involve helping rural communities gain parents say that the children are doing better at be on policies that benefit rural people. access to water for domestic use, livestock, school. The children’s better performance at Farmers can be trained in crop husbandry, Iand irrigation. In the past three years, I have school can probably be attributed to the chil- access to markets, and post-harvest handling been working with farmers in the drylands of dren having time to do their homework—since techniques. Politicians can provide more fund- Uganda—specifically, the cattle corridor in the they no longer need to fetch water from distant ing for agricultural development. The scientific districts of Rakai and Nakasongola—on a proj- sources—as well as to their better nutrition. community can develop drought-tolerant, ect funded by the Austrian Government. In However, while such simple technologies early-maturing varieties, with better water use addition to helping the local cattle farmers, my are useful, developing countries are facing efficiencies, that are acceptable to local cul- job has been to design appropriate technologies increased pressure from population growth. tures. Funding agencies can invest in projects that can supply water for domestic use and The population of Uganda is currently estimated that have tangible benefits on communities and small-scale irrigation of vegetables to boost at 34 million people. At a growth rate of 3.3% that contribute to improved livelihoods. Simple household nutrition. per year, Uganda will have 94 million people by projects can have an enormous positive impact The nutrition status of African children is 2050. Some scholars claim that Uganda’s high on people’s lives. And this approach doesn’t poor due to widespread poverty, which pre- fertility rate, coupled with the government’s lack have to cost much because we already know vents parents from feeding their children a of commitment to family planning, may cause how to do it. well balanced diet. The children also con- the population to explode to 130 million by ASABE member Nicholas Kiggundu, Lecturer, tribute to the labor required to fetch water 2050. The population is bound to increase in Department of Agricultural and Biosystems from distant water sources, which are often many other African countries as well. Engineering, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, [email protected]. polluted. This daily labor could be devoted to This increasing population calls for urgent other, more useful activities. Fortunately, investment to revamp the agricultural sector in Top photo © Svetlana Tikhonova|Dreamstime. ready access to clean water can be achieved Africa and in the developing world. In particu- Mid-page photo by the author. with simple technology, and it can have lar, irrigation schemes are needed to make max- huge positive effects. imum use of precious water resources and

RESOURCE November/December 2014 17 Re-Imagining Agriculture Mark Kibblewhite

hese are challenging of food in built environments times, and there is an may appear radical, but it is urgent need for more already happening, for exam- radical thinking about ple, with controlled-environ- Tagricultural productivity. Current ment production systems. agro-ecosystems may not be However, to date, the artificial enough to close the much-dis- approach has not been applied cussed gap between future to commodity crops. Might new demand and current production. sources of protein and carbohy- We need to re-imagine agricul- drate be based, for example, on ture and explore options for large-scale production of algae entirely new agro-ecosystems and its processing for human that are intrinsically more pro- food? Are we overlooking the ductive and that have less envi- real potential of vertical agri- ronmental impact, especially to culture, as envisioned by some secure staple protein and carbo- architects and agriculturalists? hydrate sources. Early succession ecosystems give higher net yields, but later ones use nutrients Society is realizing that more efficiently. Which stage is the optimum for future agriculture? A warning has been sound- increasing demand for agricul- ed in Europe as yields are slow- with high net productivity to more complex tural products makes increased ing to a plateau, after a long run of steady systems in which maintenance uses most of the production imperative. And this increase must be increases, in spite of a continuing large invest- energy captured by photosynthesis and nutrient based on higher productivity, rather than more ment in R&D and a sophisticated farming com- utilization is highly efficient. The existing planted area, because of competing demands for munity. The reasons for this stasis are not cer- agro-ecosystems that produce staple commodi- finite land and water resources. Furthermore, tain. Two possibilities are that the natural limits, ties are mainly “early stage” annual crops. according to the World Bank, “Time is running set by weather variability, are being These systems are highly responsive to nutrient out for agriculture to contribute to meeting global approached, or that social resistance to the cur- additions, but they are also intrinsically leaky climate targets.” The 2014 IPCC reports predict rent technological trajectory is preventing its and more prone to infestation than later-stage that climate change, without adaptation, will implementation. In any case, the existing sys- systems, such as mature grassland and forest. reduce yields of the world’s major crops (wheat, tems are at risk from existential threats, Interestingly, paddy rice has some characteris- rice, and maize) by as much as 25% by 2050. including those presented by climate change, tics of a later successional stage, while silvo- Society is looking to the scientific and engineer- because of their reliance on a limited portfo- arable systems are also later stage. ing communities to deliver a technological solu- lio of crops and animals, their leakage of Can we develop novel later-stage systems tion to these problems. byproducts, especially nitrogen, to the air that are highly efficient at capturing radiant ener- It’s dangerous to assume that doing and water, and their huge dependence on gy and using nutrients to provide enhanced more of the same, only better, is going to get fossil fuels. yields and environmental performance? What the job done. Instead, it’s time for more radical Of course, we must not abandon efforts to new insights can ecological science offer? And thinking across the whole community of increase the performance of existing systems, how can we engineer tools and processes to researchers, advisors, and farmers—backed up but we need to expand our horizons and make candidate systems feasible and commer- by investment in higher-risk but ultimately bet- options. As the current U.K. strategy for agri- cially viable? For example, how might we design ter solutions—to closing the yield gap. A high- cultural technologies says “[More productive a field that maximizes ecological performance ly encouraging development is the emphasis on agriculture] will need multiple approaches: via mixed cropping? Might it be better to estab- innovative agricultural technology in the adapting existing farming techniques, develop- lish small areas in a within-field patchwork of European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and ing entirely new production systems, [and] different crops rather than uniform fields of one development program (http://ec.europa.eu/pro- innovative engineering.” Two divergent crop in non-uniform landscapes? grammes/horizon2020/en). To make the most approaches may offer ways to imagine and then The artificial approach posits that an of this opportunity, agricultural scientists and engineer new agro-ecosystems. These entirely artificial environment offers the best engineers have a duty to fully engage their approaches can be called the ecological means to convert radiant energy to food and to imaginations and creativity, and to think and approach and the artificial approach. control environmental impacts, i.e., an environ- work more adventurously. The ecological approach starts by ment in which the constraints of soil and weath- Mark Kibblewhite, Director, MK Soil Science, Ltd., observing the natural succession of ecosystems er and the exposure of an open system to pests Beaminster, U.K., [email protected]. and their progressive shift from simple systems and disease are avoided. Such “manufacturing” Top photo by David Nance courtesy of USDA-ARS.

18 November/December 2014 RESOURCE A Menu of Solutions Craig Hanson

ow can the world feed more than 9 bil- lion people by 2050 in a manner that provides economic opportunities to alleviate poverty and reduces pressure Hon the environment? This is the paramount question the world faces over the next four decades. Answering it requires a great balancing act of solutions to three needs. First, the world needs to close the gap between the food avail- able today and that needed by 2050. Second, sustainable carrying capacity would enable the world needs agriculture to contribute to • Limit any crop or livestock expansion to Brazil to meet its beef production needs through inclusive economic and social development. land that is currently not used to produce food, not biologically diverse, and neither 2040 without converting another hectare. And third, the world needs to reduce agricul- stores nor is likely to sequester signifi- In the U.K., the Waste and Resources ture’s impact on the environment. cant amounts of carbon. Action Programme (WRAP) and major food Achieving this great balancing act will Increase yields of milk and meat per retailers have been providing tips on food stor- require a menu of solutions that address both • hectare on existing pasture and grazing age, adjusting promotions from “buy one get food demand and food supply. The World lands through sustainable intensifica- one free” to “buy one get one later,” and chang- Resources Institute’s 2013-2014 World tion of grazing management and related ing package labeling so that households will Resources Report, “Creating a Sustainable practices. not confuse “sell by” dates with “consume by” Food Future” (www.wri.org/wrr), identifies • Ensure long-term supplies of wild fish dates. As a result of these and other activities, several menu items that would reduce growth in by reducing catch levels until fish pop- household food waste in the U.K. declined by food demand, namely: ulations rebound. 21% from 2007 to 2012. • Reduce the loss and waste between the • Increase aquaculture production while At the global scale, a partnership has farm and the fork of food intended for simultaneously increasing its resource formed to develop a Food Loss and Waste human consumption. efficiency in terms of feed, land, water, Protocol, which will become the global standard • Shift diets: Reduce the consumption of and energy. and guidance for measuring food loss and waste. calories among people who are overweight These menu items would help close the It will enable countries and companies to quan- or obese. Reduce the share of animal- food gap, advance economic development, and tify in a consistent manner how much food is lost based foods in daily diets in wealthy coun- reduce agriculture’s impact on ecosystems, cli- and wasted and identify where the loss and waste tries. And among animal-based foods, mate, and water. Of course, no single solution occur. Partners include the World Resources reduce the amount of beef consumed and can achieve a sustainable food future by Institute, the FAO, the United Nations substitute it with fish or poultry. itself, and the relevance of individual menu Environment Programme (UNEP), the • Help every region of the planet in their items will vary between countries and food Consumer Goods Forum, EU FUSIONS, the efforts to achieve replacement-level fer- supply chains. But all are necessary. World Business Council for Sustainable tility (roughly 2.1 children per woman) Fortunately, there are signs of progress. Development, and WRAP. by 2050. Here are three examples from Niger, Brazil, Despite these developments, there is a long • Reduce the diversion of edible crops and the U.K.: way to go. The food gap is significant. into biofuel production. Farmers in Niger have managed the natu- Consumption patterns are difficult to change, The World Resources Report also identi- ral regeneration of native trees growing in farm and diffusion of new food production methods fies menu items that would sustainably increase fields across five million hectares. Trees such can take time. And climate change will increas- the supply of food, including: as Faidherbia albida fix nitrogen in the soil, ingly hamper food production if left unchecked. • Increase yields on existing agricultural protect fields from wind and water erosion, and Consequently, governments, the private sector, land through the annual selection and drop their leaves, contributing organic matter to and civil society will need to act quickly and adoption of higher-yielding seeds, accel- soils. Yields of maize in such agroforestry sys- with conviction to implement this menu of solu- erated by marker-assisted and genomics- tems can be double those of conventional farms tions. If they do, the world just might be able to assisted conventional breeding and in the country. achieve a sustainable food future. increased attention to orphan crops. Brazil is exploring approaches to increase • Increase crop yields on existing agricul- Craig Hanson, Global Director of Food, Forests, and the productivity of existing grazing lands to both Water Programs, World Resources Institute, tural land by implementing improved soil meet beef production needs and avoid conversion Washington, D.C., USA, [email protected]. and water management practices, such as of forests into pastures. Increasing cattle grazing agroforestry and water harvesting. Top photo © Stefaniemohrphotography|Dreamstime.com. intensity across the country to just one-half of the Infographic courtesy of World Resources Institute.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 19 Fish: A Must for Global Food Security Stephen Hall

n the developing world, more than one bil- This rapid growth of aquaculture has Yet while aquaculture might be said to rep- lion people obtain most of their animal pro- raised inevitable questions concerning its envi- resent the new frontier, there remains a contin- tein from fish, and 250 million depend on ronmental sustainability. Central to these con- uing desire to address the challenge of fisheries and aquaculture for their liveli- cerns are the demands that aquaculture places maintaining wild-capture fisheries. At two Ihoods. Fish represents an important and low- on resources, and the environmental conse- summits this year, the Global Oceans Action cost source of high-quality protein, essential quences of the waste it generates. Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth in fatty acids, and micronutrients. It is almost certain that continued increases the Netherlands (www.globaloceansactionsum- The 2013 World Bank report “Fish to in production will lead to increases in aquacul- mit.com) and the Our Ocean Summit hosted by 2030: Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture” ture’s global environmental footprint. Yet there U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (www. (www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3640e/i3640e.pdf) are a variety of actions that producers can take to state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/06/227797.htm), projects that aquaculture will provide close to improve environmental efficiencies to minimize announcements and strong commitments were two-thirds of global food fish by 2030. This impacts and encourage sustainable growth. made by governments and other stakeholders. will happen as catches from wild-capture fish- Among these solutions are greater investment in Thinking about aquaculture and fisheries eries level off and demand from an emerging technological innovation and transfer, specifical- together, what is clear is that a business-as- global middle class, especially in China, ly breeding and hatchery technology, disease usual scenario, no change to the status quo, will increases. Along with the increasing demand for control, feeds and nutrition, and the development likely mean that we will be unable to ensure a fish, the global fish food system faces other of low-impact production systems. sustainable fish food system to support the pre- challenges, including overfishing, climate It’s also important to recognize, however, that dicted global demand for fish. Fisheries man- change, pollution, and ocean acidification. while there is an environmental cost for farmed agement requires greater global focus to main- These challenges demand a change in our fish, it is generally less than for other types of live- tain global wild fish stocks, and aquaculture approach to fisheries management and farmed stock. Where resources are stretched, policies growth needs to be managed to minimize envi- fish production. that promote fish farming over other types of ronmental impacts. Although it’s been around for centuries, production should be considered. Recently, experts from the business, poli- aquaculture is, in many respects, the new Such promotion can also have very posi- cy, non-governmental, and philanthropic sec- frontier for farming. Between 1980 and 2010, tive impacts on the poor in developing coun- tors met to discuss the challenges and potential the annual average production growth rate was tries. A recent journal article (DOI: solutions for the world’s fish food system as about 8.8%. Aquaculture now provides about as 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.035), co-authored part of the Rockefeller-funded Fishing for a much fish for direct human consumption as by WorldFish and the Bangladesh Institute of Future initiative (www.fishingfuture.org). They wild-capture fisheries. Development Studies, provides further proof of concluded that there is currently a fragmented the need to bolster poli- approach to dealing with these issues and that a cies that create an clear set of high-level goals that stimulate enabling environment for better coordination and collective action aquaculture. The report among stakeholders is needed. shows that increases in WorldFish, a member of the CGIAR small-scale aquaculture Consortium, is an international, nonprofit productivity can increase research organization committed to reducing food security. More poverty and hunger through fisheries and aqua- importantly, it stresses culture. We will continue to work at the local, the need to support wild- national, and international levels to support capture fisheries in par- such efforts and to help meet the challenges of allel with the develop- sustaining the world’s fisheries and promoting ment of the aquaculture sustainable aquaculture so that we will be able sector. Many rural to meet global food security needs.

households rely on this Stephen Hall, Director General, WorldFish, Penang, common resource, so the Malaysia, [email protected]; www.worldfishcenter.org.

development of policies Top photo by Stephen Ausmus, courtesy of USDA- that support both sectors ARS. Bottom photo by M. Yousuf Tushar. is desirable.

Woman slicing raw fish in Satkhira, Bangladesh.

20 November/December 2014 RESOURCE The Social Science Perspective Stephen Gasteyer and Craig Harris

duce food that goes to national tants, as well as deleterious techniques of ani- markets, contributing to food mal production. security, and food that is traded 6. It will be much easier to achieve sus- internationally, earning foreign tainable food production in 2050 if food waste exchange for less developed is reduced. While it is unrealistic to expect zero countries and balancing the waste, opportunities exist for substantial reduc- payments of more developed tions in waste throughout the production, pro- countries. Achieving sustain- cessing, distribution, marketing, and consump- able food production requires tion stages. This will generate large benefits balancing among these scales, with little expenditure of effort and resources. so that none of them displaces Research opportunities include improved food The inescapable interconnectedness of agriculture’s different roles the benefits that are generat- preservation and storage techniques. and functions. Source: IAASTD: Global Summary for Decision ed by the others. 7. Sustainable food production in 2050 Maker http://www.agassessment-watch.org/. 3. There must be greater requires equitable access to food across all democracy in the identifica- social groups. Equitable access means afford- e are both professors of sociolo- tion of research priorities. At all levels of the able food, food security, and the right to food, gy with AgBioResearch appoint- research and development process, local voices as well as a voice in the production and distri- ments at Michigan State must be included in the decision-making. For bution of food, or food sovereignty. Equitable University. Our work involves instance, in developing their research priorities, access also means access to food for both Wthe community dynamics of food, water, and governments and intergovernmental organiza- human and animal consumption, and access to energy development in the United States, the tions must include non-governmental organiza- the resources (land, water, and seeds) needed to Middle East, and Africa (Gasteyer), and the tions that speak for under-represented popula- produce food for consumption and exchange. political ecology of food—especially livestock, tions. Researchers must use participatory Good food provides both nutrition and social fisheries, and local food—in the United States, approaches that engage actors across the agrifood values in ways that are culturally appropriate. Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Harris). system in “doing science together,” to paraphrase History offers many examples of social disrup- Based on our experience, we’ve identified eight sociologist Louise Fortmann. Agrifood tion caused by unequal access to food. goals that must be addressed to achieve sustain- researchers must also work with under-represent- 8. Finally, sustainable agrifood produc- able agricultural production by 2050: ed farmers and producers, such as those who are tion must improve the environment. Agrifood 1. Agricultural production must be small scale, female, minority, youth, entry level, production must minimize the negative impacts expanded to incorporate the various parts of and represent diverse racial and ethnic groups. and foster positive impacts on what agroecolo- the entire agrifood system (we use the term 4. Participatory democracy must also be gist Stephen Gliessman calls the “ecological “agrifood” here to mean food, feed, fiber, and applied to the allocation of resources associ- foundation.” This will require a commitment by fuel). This includes research and development ated with agrifood systems. Sociologist Philip governments and funding organizations to across the agrifood value chain (e.g., attention McMichael and others have noted with alarm develop programs that reward contributions to to inputs, production, processing, distribution, the increasingly undemocratic nature of interna- ecosystem integrity and that provide disincen- and waste) as well as other systems that supply tional investments in resources, such as land and tives for damaging the environment, by agri- food, fiber, shelter, and energy for humans, water, as well as in the value chain from produc- food and by other economic systems (e.g., such as fisheries, forestry, and foraging sys- er to consumer. Governments, funding organi- energy, mining, and construction). tems. In short, sustainable agrifood production zations, and researchers must pay greater atten- Pursuing these eight goals requires that we requires nesting production within what politi- tion to who benefits, who loses, and how deci- adapt the agrifood system to a constantly cal economist Elinor Ostrom referred to as sions are made about the investment and sale of changing global socioecological system. “socioecological systems.” resources. Together, they must develop mecha- However, if we fail to adapt, the planet will 2. Agrifood systems exist at several scales, nisms to better allocate access to the means and change without us. Scientific research will play which are characterized by the geography of the benefits of agrifood development. a critical role in illuminating the interactions, their production and consumption. Roughly 5. Sustainable production requires that identifying the risks, developing the monitoring half of the households in the world produce agriculture is healthy for humans and ani- protocols, and developing the tools that deci- food to be consumed by the members of the mals. Breeding and development programs sion-makers need. household. Many of these households also pro- must balance the quantity produced with the Stephen Gasteyer, Associate Professor, and Craig duce food for exchange within the community quality produced. Further, the techniques used Harris, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, or local region, thus producing the “civic agri- to produce food must not diminish or endanger Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA, culture” that sociologist Thomas Lyson dis- health. This includes the exposure of producers [email protected] and [email protected]. cussed. Smaller percentages of households pro- and consumers to toxic chemicals and pollu- Top design © Jenny Solomon|Dreamstime.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 21 The Soil-Carbon Opportunity Diana Donlon

emographers project We can rebuild soil that the global popula- carbon by adopting regen- tion will reach nine bil- erative agriculture, which lion by 2050. While a includes poly-culture, cover veryD large number, nine billion is cropping, agro-forestry, something we can only more or and nutrient recycling less imagine, given that the glob- through organic soil al population currently stands at amendments like compost 7.2 billion. Harder to picture is and biochar. All that stands what living on Earth will be like in our way is political will. in 36 years, and this makes it hard The Center for Food to anticipate the conditions under Safety’s Cool Foods which we’ll be producing food. Campaign is working at the Let’s start by looking at nexus of food and climate to what we know is happening to communicate soil solutions the ecosystems that support life. to climate problems. We Our species has caused a offer a fresh and empower- staggering amount of destruc- ing approach to potentially tion: We’re spewing far too much overwhelming challenges. carbon dioxide into the atmos- We use a variety of plat- phere and heating the planet. forms to disseminate critical Indeed, scientists tell us that the and inspiring messages safe upper limit of atmospheric through easy-to-share info- graphics, straightforward CO2 is 350 parts per million, yet we crossed a very scary thresh- articles, short videos, and old, 400 ppm, in 2013. Extreme accessible reports. We are heat is accelerating moisture loss, also working with thought- reducing crop yields, and shifting leaders and policy-makers growing regions. Additionally, to add soil carbon sequestra- tion to the toolkit of climate excess CO2 is dissolving into the oceans, causing acidification and mitigation strategies. I recently had the honor harming fish—a vital source of protein for one carbon pumps, sucking up atmospheric CO2 and billion of the world’s most vulnerable people. pumping it into the soil as stable carbon, where of speaking with Rattan Lal, considered by many Is there anything we can do to lessen climate it can potentially remain for thousands of years! to be one of the world’s preeminent soil scientists. volatility and create a more food-secure future? However, through activities such as clear- I asked Professor Lal what he would tell people There is. Unlike the atmosphere and the ing forests, draining wetlands, plowing, over- about the importance of restoring soil carbon. His oceans, there is one place in the global ecosys- grazing, and leaving ground bare, the world’s answer was as simple and as elegant as the solu- tem that is actually suffering from a lack of car- cultivated soils have lost between 50% and 70% tion at hand: “We can meet world food demand bon—the soil. Carbon in soil is essential for of their original carbon stock. Upon exposure to only if we can restore soil quality through improving organic carbon stocks.” life, and storing it there doesn’t cause global air, carbon in soils oxidizes and becomes CO2. problems; it solves them. This means we have an opportunity, at a If we feed our soils, they’ll feed us, and so Through photosynthesis, plants capture global scale, to address this colossal deficit much more. carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using solar by feeding our carbon-hungry soils. Storing, Diana Donlon, Director, Cool Foods Campaign, Center energy. That carbon dioxide is converted into or sequestering, carbon in the ground provides for Food Safety, San Francisco, California, USA, multiple benefits for climate stability, fresh [email protected], www.centerfor- carbohydrates that build plant matter as well as foodsafety.org. attract and feed beneficial microorganisms water availability, biodiversity, and food securi- around the plant’s roots. While some of this ty. It is a zero-risk, low-cost proposition that Top photo, “Well-Husbanded Soil,” courtesy of Charles Merfield. Infographic courtesy of the Center plant matter eventually decomposes, releasing has the potential to move the earth’s carbon for Food Safety. CO2 back into the atmosphere, a portion of it is cycle back into balance. It also has universal stored in the soil as organic matter, keeping the application. Most importantly, we already know carbon in a stable form. In short, plants act as how to do it.

22 November/December 2014 RESOURCE A Truly Wicked Problem Otto Doering

y role is often that of the lone econ- human factors is increasingly necessary in iden- As an economist, I have to point out that omist in the room, something like tifying the questions, let alone identifying alter- markets are an important part of feeding the the proverbial elephant. I provide native solutions. Traditional scientific solutions world. For starters, markets induce technical non-advocacy economic analysis of for the world food problem may be ineffective innovation. Because land was scarce in Japan, Malternative approaches for solving resource, without considering how people behave, how Japanese agriculture developed on the basis of environment, and agricultural policy problems. institutions can engage, and how climate change land-saving technology—improved varieties, My career began with the Ford might play out for multiple generations. fertilizer, irrigation, etc. In the U.S., where land Foundation in Malaysia when Ford was abundant but labor was scarce, was deeply committed to overseas labor-saving technology was devel- development and institution building. oped—cotton gins, seeders, har- I was involved in the introduction of vesters, etc. The scarce (and therefore the early “miracle” rice varieties, expensive) resource became the one starting with trials of IR3, 4, 5, 6, and worth inventing for, but is induced finally IR8. We were assessing the technological innovation, by itself, economic and social impact of these strong enough to meet the challenges new rice varieties on a large irriga- of the future? I am also nagged by the tion project in Malaysia, but we did fact that markets can fail. not fully understand the broader ram- In the short term, markets help ifications of what we were doing. with the allocation of goods and the Returning home to the United States, development of technology. They as a policy economist, I assessed promote innovation and efficiency, alternative farm programs, and today but they are not prescient about long- I am increasingly involved in assess- term future demands for exhaustible ing water issues, resource use ques- resources, nor for sustaining tions, and climate change impacts. resources that are being degraded Achieving adequate sustain- through overuse. The high discount able food production in the future is rate in our current cost-benefit analy- what I call a truly wicked problem sis may cause us to ignore critical because it is not amenable to the benefits for future generations. Just traditional scientific method of as the physical and biological sci- problem solving. There is no universal agree- Can it carry us? ences have difficulty grappling with ment on the definition of the problem, alternative earth’s carrying capacity, so economists have solutions are infused with strongly held values, Although there is much talk about these difficulty dealing with valuation issues for and there is not even agreement on what a correct kinds of broadly based, integrated approaches to future generations. However, today’s economic goal or solution might look like. In fact, for a problem-solving, we still don’t walk the walk. decisions will shortchange future generations truly wicked problem, there is no single solution, Meanwhile, since my involvement in the Green if we do not integrate their future needs. and there is no stopping point. There is also a Revolution, the earth’s population has doubled. Feeding the world sustainably, now and in the higher degree of outcome uncertainty with My overriding concerns are two-fold: future, is a truly wicked problem. one concern is the earth’s carrying capacity wicked problems. ASABE member Otto Doering, Professor and Public Consistent with the nature of wicked prob- (a physical and biological dimension), and Policy Specialist, Department of Agricultural the other concern is the inability of markets Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, lems, we lack synthesis of the diverse pieces of Indiana, USA, [email protected]. information essential to tackling the critical and prices to adequately signal scarcity by components of sustainable food production. taking the needs of future generations into Top galaxy design © Ruslana Stovner|Dreamstime. account. Both of these concerns present a chal- Mid-page photo is a true-color image that shows Even a small piece of the problem requires North and South America as they would appear from lenge to institutions and individuals around the bringing together multiple skill sets and values. space 35,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth. The Seemingly specific food security problems typi- world. In addition, the increasingly complex image is a combination of data from two satellites and was created by Reto Stöckli, Nazmi El Saleous, and cally involve issues beyond any single expertise. question of sustainable carrying capacity is Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, courtesy of NASA GSFC. Something that looks like an agronomic produc- more than a question of when will non-renew- tion problem may require involvement from dif- able resources run out. Carrying capacity also ferent disciplines to create alternatives that can includes the earth’s ability to absorb waste, meet the challenge. Integrating technical and such as excess carbon dioxide, as well as sus- tain soil fertility and adequate fresh water.

RESOURCE November/December 2014 23 Sustainability at the Landscape Scale Marita Dieling and Dyno Keatinge

he formation of the Association of support equitable livelihoods and improved • A concerted effort with a common vision. International Research and Development well-being for the people of the greater • A holistic approach to smallholder agricul- Centers for Agriculture (AIRCA, Himalayas. ture and ecosystems. www.airca.org) in 2012 was stimulated African Insect Science for Food and • Ensuring sustainability of agricultural systems. Tby the need for integrated action to deliver sus- Health (ICIPE): Helps alleviate poverty, ensure In October 2013, AIRCA released a white tainable agricultural intensification at the land- food security, and improve the overall health sta- paper offering recommendations for transform- scape scale. AIRCA is a nine-member alliance of tus of people in the tropics by developing and ing rural livelihoods in the developing world at international research and development institutes extending management tools for harmful and the landscape level. This approach takes into committed to increasing food security by sup- useful arthropods while preserving the natural account the diversity of interactions among porting smallholder agriculture and rural enter- resource base through research and capacity people and the environment, agricultural and prises within healthy, sustainable, and climate- building. non-agricultural systems, and other factors that smart landscapes. represent the entire context of agriculture. Supported by more than 60 member coun- To achieve these recommendations, tries that comprise more than 70% of the AIRCA encourages the creation of innovative world’s population, AIRCA members have funding mechanisms that will facilitate the for- activities in all major geographic regions. All mation of partnerships between research and have a proven record of research, development, development organizations, countries, and and implementation, working closely with regional networks to deliver practical solutions farmers, extension systems, national research at the necessary scale, including the capacity to institutes, non-governmental organizations, and sustain these interventions over time and the the private sector across a wide range of crops development of sound policy to protect them. and ecosystems. The following organizations The world will not achieve food security are the founding members of AIRCA: Indigenous vegetables in Africa. unless the needs of smallholder and family AVRDC—The World Vegetable Center: farms are adequately addressed. We believe Alleviates poverty and malnutrition in the International Fertilizer Development that a greater commitment to knowledge trans- developing world through increased production Center (IFDC): Helps smallholder farmers in fer among rural farmers and more effective and consumption of nutritious and health-pro- developing countries increase their agricultural uses of information technology are needed. moting vegetables. productivity, generate economic growth, and Technologies must also be suited to the scale of CAB International (CABI): Improves practice environmental stewardship by enhanc- these operations. Sustainable intensification people’s lives by providing information and ing their ability to manage mineral and organic involves trade-offs at many levels, from indi- applying scientific expertise to solve problems fertilizers and participate profitably in input vidual farms and communities to regional, in agriculture and the environment. and output markets. national, and landscape scales. These trade-offs Tropical Agricultural Research and International Network for Bamboo and require difficult choices and should be the sub- Higher Education Center (CATIE): Rattan (INBAR): Improves the well-being of ject of more research, along with greater inte- Specializes in tropical agriculture and natural the producers and users of bamboo and rattan gration of development efforts. resources, combining research, education, and within the context of a sustainable resource base. Donor agencies and national governments outreach to provide innovative solutions for AIRCA’s vision is to put research into need to invest their research and development sustainable development. practice through sustainable improvements to funds in a more holistic manner so that devel- Crops for the Future (CFF): Contributes incomes, nutrition, and food security. In partic- opment can occur across landscapes. The pres- to sustainable agriculture and food systems by ular, the intended outcomes of joint AIRCA ini- ent piecemeal investment model has not been enabling greater use of underutilized crops tiatives are healthy landscapes—meaning effective, and the partial failure to achieve the through research, capacity development, and healthy plants, enterprises, people, and animals Millennium Development Goals concerning policy advocacy. living in a healthy and sustainable environment. hunger and poverty will attest to that in 2015. By sharing our collective knowledge and expe- International Center for Biosaline Marita Dieling, Executive Secretary, Association of Agriculture (ICBA): Works in partnerships to rience in creating healthy landscapes, aware- International Research and Development Centers for deliver agricultural and water-scarcity solutions ness of the benefits of the landscape approach Agriculture (AIRCA), Nairobi, Kenya, [email protected]; Dyno Keatinge, Director General AVRDC - The World in marginal environments. will increase among potential stakeholders in the agricultural and environmental sectors. Vegetable Center, Shanhua, Taiwan, International Centre for Integrated [email protected]. Mountain Development (ICIMOD): Enables AIRCA’s work is characterized by the following principles: Top photo © Danymages|Dreamstime. sustainable and resilient development through Mid-page photo courtesy of AVRDC. knowledge transfer and regional cooperation to • Delivering impact at the agriculture-environ- ment nexus.

24 November/December 2014 RESOURCE Sobering Numbers Bruce Dale

sumption is current- biological engineers. It is the primary technical ly about 16 terawatts challenge around which my research and think- (TW). We will soon ing are oriented. have 8 billion people Furthermore, this era of increased food pro- on planet Earth. If duction and increased renewable energy produc- all 8 billion people tion must occur in a time of declining per capita were to consume a resources—land, water, and conventional energy modest 2 kW, that sources, especially petroleum. Conventional would total 16 TW. (cheap) oil production peaked in about 2005. We If everyone were to may dislike this fact, but it is undeniably true. consume a more So we need to work harder and smarter. comfortable 4 kW, Increasingly, we must work with nature and the world would with ecological principles—not against them or require 32 TW of in ignorance of them. Access to abundant Human development by country vs. per capita power consumption in 2010. power, twice the cur- energy, especially petroleum and natural gas, rent world total. has often permitted engineers to ignore or to s a chemical engineer, I have worked Obviously, the developed world consumes work against natural processes and ecologi- to produce sustainable biofuels—liq- much more than 2 kW per capita, while the cal principles. We cannot afford to do so any uid fuels from plant matter—during underdeveloped world consumes much less. longer. We can change. We must change. my entire career. Because of the strong This should be unacceptable to all of us—a rel- What should we do? Of all the things that Alink between biofuels and agriculture, I am nec- ative few enjoying abundant power and the are hard to change, changing our minds is the essarily concerned about food production and all resulting prosperity, while many experience most difficult. Institutions change only when the links between energy and agriculture. energy poverty. enough individuals change their minds. Thus, I We take the modern world for granted. It is deeply irresponsible to think that am not too focused on changing institutions. However, the amenities (wealth, education, fossil fuels can provide twice as much power My invitation (or challenge) to you, reading healthcare, mobility, etc.) enjoyed by people in the as they currently do. A society built on non- this article, is to find out for yourself if the fol- developed nations depend absolutely on consum- renewable power is simply unsustainable, and it lowing statements are true: ing huge amounts of energy, about 85% of it from will become increasingly fragile and perilous as • High levels of human prosperity depend on fossil resources: oil, coal, and natural gas. Take the non-renewable sources are depleted. We consuming a lot of energy. away that abundant energy, and the modern world must have renewable power, many terawatts of • Our society and its agricultural systems are disappears. Take away petroleum-based fuels, it, if we are to enjoy the prosperity that abun- based on non-renewable fossil energy. abundant electricity, and natural gas for fertiliz- dant energy provides—heating, cooling, light- • These fossil energy sources are rapidly deplet- ers, and modern agriculture also disappears. ing, and mobility. Renewable power is therefore ing and will disappear in this century. The figure above highlights the link not an option; it is essential if more people, now • Prosperity based on fossil energy will like- between energy consumption and general human and in the future, are to achieve their potential wise disappear in this century. well-being, which I will call “prosperity.” This is as human beings. • Therefore, we must quickly develop and a plot of the Human Development Index (HDI) There are many renewable sources of elec- deploy large-scale renewable energy sys- versus the per capita rate of energy consumption tricity (e.g., solar, wind, and hydro) that can tems, including biofuels. (power consumption) for over 150 countries. The provide heating, cooling, and lighting. If these statements are true—and I HDI is a composite measure of prosperity, However, only liquid biofuels, due to their high strongly assert that they are—then we have a lot including health (life expectancy at birth), edu- energy density, offer a complete renewable to do, and we have no time to waste. replacement for petroleum in all mobility appli- cation (mean years of schooling and expected ASABE Member Bruce Dale, University Distinguished years of schooling), and living standards (gross cations, including agriculture. Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East national income per capita). Obviously, overall Since we must have renewable energy, and we must have food, it is essential that we find Lansing, USA, and Editor in Chief, Biofuels, prosperity is strongly and positively correlated Bioproducts, and Biorefining, [email protected], with power consumption. The HDI is a reason- ways to integrate food production with renew- www.everythingbiomass.org. able energy production, including biofuels— able, measurable surrogate for prosperity. It rises Top photo © Shannon Matteson|Dreamstime. not in competition with each other but to their very rapidly as power consumption increases Figure: Design, implementation, and evaluation of and then levels off or “saturates” at a power con- mutual benefit. And we must do so in ways that sustainable bioenergy production systems, Bruce Dale and Rebecca Ong, Michigan State University sumption of about 2 to 4 kW per capita. These are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. This is an enormous challenge, but and DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, are sobering numbers. Total world power con- East Lansing, USA. especially for the profession of agricultural and

RESOURCE November/December 2014 25 New Roots for Ecological Intensification Timothy Crews, Thomas Cox, Lee DeHaan, Sivaramakrishna Damaraju, Wes Jackson, Pheonah Nabukalu, David Van Tassel, and Shuwen Wang

o meet the global food challenge of habit into the annual grain, and (2) rapid domes- Attendees included almost every researcher 2050, and well beyond, there is a grow- tication—i.e., cycles of selection and inter-mat- from around the world who is doing genetics, ing consensus that farmers will need to ing to fix and improve on traits such as nonshat- breeding, agronomic, ecological, or socioeco- produce more food using fewer and tering, free threshing, increased seed size, and nomic work related to perennial grains. That Tfewer chemical, energy, and machine inputs. In reduced dormancy. meeting made three things clear: (1) the need order to achieve this, numerous researchers have Perennial rice, wheat, and sorghum are for cropping systems based on combinations of called for a transition from input intensification examples of the wide-hybridization efforts, perennial species is widely recognized; (2) that TM to ecological (or sustainable) intensification. while Kernza wheatgrass and Silphium need is not being filled, largely because most Agroecosystem characteristics that have been oilseed crops are examples of rapid domestica- (but not all) of the people doing research on targeted for improvement through ecological tion. These perennial crops are unlike any ever perennial grains are doing it as a supplement to intensification include fertilizer and water seen in wild ecosystems or in agricultural their larger research programs on annual crops; uptake efficiencies, greenhouse gas emissions, fields, and thus we anticipate unique challenges and (3) with sufficient funding, many more soil quality including nutrient stocks and organ- in developing a new set of management prac- programs focused full-time on development of ic matter, and crop loss to insects and pathogens. tices for them. As perennial grains are planted perennial grains could be initiated. For ecological intensification to deliver at larger scales, they must be studied carefully For several years, we have been urging on the high hopes and expecta- public and private funding institu- tions that have been identified by tions, both national and interna- agronomists and ecologists, it will tional, to help fill that gap, mak- be necessary to address the very ing it possible for the informal nature of our annual crop ecosys- worldwide network of perennial- tems. Low nutrient retention, loss of grain researchers to strengthen soil organic carbon, inefficient use and expand. With such support, of water, and high prevalence of pest we envision a network of organisms are inherent attributes of research “clusters” in as many low-diversity ecosystems held at as a dozen agriculturally strate- early stages of succession or ecosys- gic locations distributed across tem development—i.e., annual sin- all continents. Each cluster gle-genotype monocultures. In would include breeders, geneti- contrast, landscapes that are further cists, crop ecologists, and others along in succession or ecosystem Soil profile showing roots of the new domesticated perennial grain with a clearly defined research KernzaTM on the left and annual winter wheat on the right. The soil profile development—i.e., landscapes with agenda for developing and has a depth of ~2.5 m. KernzaTM has been domesticated from intermediate deploying a set of perennial cere- perennial vegetation and greater wheat grass (Thinopyrum intermedium). It can be milled into flour and then als, grain legumes, and other interspecies and intraspecies diver- blended with or substituted for wheat flour. sity—are generally superior with species appropriate for the region respect to their numerous regulating, support- to document the expected benefits and identify where that cluster is located. ing, and provisioning ecosystem services rele- additional challenges. Watershed-scale advan- The most important benefit that perennials vant to agriculture, including nutrient and tages of perennial grains will need to be docu- confer is protection of the soil. In addition, carbon retention and water uptake efficiency, mented to inform policy. farmers in more developed economies are regulation of pest populations, and net primary Over the next ten years, we must lay the expected to benefit from significantly lower productivity. groundwork for additional perennial grain, input and energy costs. In less developed The goal of shifting agriculture toward a pulse, fiber, and oilseed crops. New domestica- economies, ecological intensification can higher functional stage of ecosystem develop- tion efforts directed at current wild perennials become accessible to subsistence farmers and ment is limited by the availability of perennial require many years to select promising domes- growers who have limited access to capital crops. The Land Institute (www.landinstitute.org) ticates. Similarly, establishing wide-hybrid since the beneficial ecosystem services are and collaborating researchers from numerous populations that would be useful to convention- derivatives of the crop ecosystem itself. al breeding programs requires numerous gener- institutions around the world are working to Timothy Crews, Research Director, and Thomas Cox, develop unique genetics that allow high grain ations. In order to achieve ecological intensi- Lee DeHaan, Sivaramakrishna Damaraju, Wes Jackson, Pheonah Nabukalu, Daviid Van Tassel, and yields from herbaceous perennial plants. fication with perennials by 2050, a long-term global effort will be essential. Shuwen Wang, Research Scientists, The Land Breeding approaches include (1) wide hybrid Institute, Salina, Kansas, USA, crosses between annual grains and related peren- In August 2013, the UN’s Food and [email protected]. Agriculture Organization hosted an expert nial species in order to introgress the perennial Photos courtesy of Jim Richardson and Jerry Glover. workshop on perennial crops for food security.

26 November/December 2014 RESOURCE Genetic Engineering Will Drive Food Security Mary-Dell Chilton

uring the late 1970s and early 1980s, food production in the future, something to their activity and replicate the results. The plant my research team worked out how a which my company is dedicated through the of the future will have stacks of desired genes plant bacterium can be adapted as a Good Growth Plan (www.goodgrowthplan.com). precisely inserted into specific locations in the tool to insert genes from another In a real sense, the process that we use for plant’s genome. This is not how things are now, Dorganism into plant cells. This helped open the genetically engineering a plant is a natural one. but it is what we are working on. The plant will door to new crop varieties with innovative have not one transgene, but a traits. In 1982, we harnessed the gene-transfer series of them. mechanism of the bacterium Agrobacterium in There are two approaches order to produce a transgenic plant. That dis- for stacking genes within a covery has led to the development of new pre- plant’s genome: combining GM cision tools to protect plants from the traits through traditional breed- environment and enhance yields. ing (breeding stacks) and trans- In 2013, I was one of three scientists hon- formation with a multi-gene ored as World Food Prize Laureates for our con- cassette (molecular stacks). The tributions to this technology. The World Food molecular stack method, which Prize is the most important award that I have complements breeding stacks, received in my career. More important, howev- presents several design chal- er, is the fact that agricultural biotechnologists lenges. It is not going to be were chosen to win the 2013 Prize, as it speaks easy, but that just makes our to the importance of this new technology in work more interesting! addressing the food needs of future generations. What should be done by I have seen this technology develop from governing bodies, interna- its infancy to fruition in the crops we see in the tional organizations, funding field today. It has been an amazingly rewarding agencies, and the scientific journey to see what started out as a fundamental community to help feed the scientific and curiosity-driven study evolve into world in 2050? The single such wide application in the field. It is clear most important contribution from the statistics, which show the many mil- that others can make is to lions of acres of biotech-modified crops being provide accurate informa- harvested around the world, that the technology tion about the food security has taken off with remarkable speed. challenge we are facing and None of it could have happened without the solutions that can meet high-performing, collaborative teams. This is We learned how Agrobacterium manages to put the challenge. For too long, there has been mis- the most interdisciplinary research you can genes into plant cells, and then we copied that understanding and misinformation about mod- imagine. Our field is one in which people with process. We borrowed from a natural process in ern agriculture technologies, especially GMOs. highly specialized expertise have to come order to put genes into plant cells—genes of This has led to a state of public confusion and together to achieve the genetic engineering of a our choice—that will benefit the farmer and unnecessary concern over what this process is plant. I could not have accomplished what I end user. In short, we can now do by choice and how safe it is. I find this very unfortunate have without the people who have worked with what nature only does by chance. because it did not need to happen. me all these years, and I thank them for that. With genetic engineering, we have a wide We have spent far too much time trying to The only sustainable approach to food choice of genes to introduce into a plant cell, correct false impressions rather than focusing on security in 2050 and beyond is to unlock the and we can precisely choose the genetic regions all the benefits that these technologies can pro- potential of plants through innovation. where we want to insert them, without any vide. Let us focus on their potential for the Growers are rapidly adopting combined-trait unintended consequences. In traditional cross- future. The world will become a hungry place in crops for insect control, water optimization, yield breeding, extra genes that you don’t want also one more generation. We will need this wonder- improvement, oil and protein quality, and find their way into the plant. It is impossible to ful technology to improve the seeds of the future. avoid. As I see it, a genetically engineered plant improved bioprocessing. Ultimately, these tech- Mary-Dell Chilton, Distinguished Science Fellow and nologies help reduce chemical applications and is a much more defined and precise product. Founder, Syngenta Biotechnology, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. provide simpler, more environmentally friendly Currently, multiple traits are available farming practices (e.g., no till). Agricultural within a given product, but the traits are sprin- Top photo © Edwardroom501|Dreamstime.com. biotechnology will be a key driver of sustainable kled throughout the plant genome, which Mid-photo courtesy of Syngenta. makes it difficult for plant breeders to track

RESOURCE November/December 2014 27 Feeding the World Sustainably Michael Chaplinsky

ou can argue about the impacts of glob- pesticides. This artificial control of plant biolo- rock has a deep crack lined with moss and al warming, and you can argue about gy is a lot like how the pharmaceutical industry lichen. Leaves and other windblown plant mat- when we will run out of petroleum, but takes care of human health—there’s a pill for ter fall into the crack and gradually decompose. no informed person denies that global everything. However, many human health prob- At some point, a seed fell into the rich moist Ywarming is real, nor that the world’s oil will lems are lifestyle-related. Instead of taking yet compost and germinated. As the tree grew, its eventually run out. However, another crisis is another pill, why not adopt healthier habits? roots probed deeper into the crack, forcing the also looming, and almost no one is talking Wouldn’t that be simpler, safer, and cheaper in crack to open wider and retain more organic about it: we are running out of the fertilizers the long run? matter and moisture, which provided more and other chemicals needed to grow food. All plants are part of a highly evolved life nutrients for the tree. The Zion National Park My work started over 30 years ago, manu- cycle. Soil is the result of bacteria, protozoa, area in the southwestern United States near facturing fertilizer injection systems (fertiga- and fungi converting organic matter into miner- Springdale, Utah receives less than ten inches tion) for crop production). Today, our company als and nutrients, which plants use to create bio- of precipitation a year, but this tree has found a produces fertigation systems for agriculture, mass. Soil biologists know that plants and soil way to thrive. horticulture, landscapes, and resorts world- have a symbiotic relationship, supplying each Few people realize that less than 45% of wide. Fertigation is the most efficient way to other with nutrients and organic matter. the dry fertilizer applied to a crop ever gets irrigate plants and feed the soil. Our goal is to Sustainable agriculture applies this natural to the plant. Most is lost below the roots. make every drop of water count. Recently, we cycle to crop production, treating the soil and Fertigation delivers up to 95% of the nutrients have become concerned about the long-term the plants holistically. This improves the soil to the plant through both root and foliar uptake. health of our soil and plant systems, and we and plant health and increases water efficiency In addition, sustainable agriculture can reduce have been working to implement sustainable while reducing the need for chemical inputs. water use by up to 50%. It also reduces fertiliz- agriculture to improve soil and plant health. Increased soil and plant health creates more er and chemical use by up to 60%, as well as Sadly, modern agriculture is controlled by efficient crops with deeper denser roots that are labor and energy requirements, while increas- the fertilizer and chemical industries, and they more resistant to insects and diseases. ing crop quality and production by up to 50%. don’t seem to care about soil health. Their goal The photo below of a tree growing on a Note that sustainable agriculture does not is high-volume crop production. That approach rock in Zion National Park shows how little completely eliminate fertilizer or chemical use. has been hugely successful over the last 100 a plant really needs to survive when the plant Instead, it increases plant and soil health to pro- years, but at a cost, and it’s created an unsus- and soil are in balance. Yes, it’s a real tree, liv- duce more while using less. This is done by tainable dependence on chemical fertilizers and ing on a bare rock. How is that possible? The feeding the soil by adding enzymes, humates, and other food sources to increase the biological population so that microorganisms can convert the organic matter into plant-available nutrients. The International Fund of Agricultural Development has heralded 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming (www.ifad.org/events/iyff/). Worldwide, rural farmers need help, and sustainable agricultural can be part of that help. By bringing nature, soil health, plant health, and water efficiency together, sustainable agriculture can double their farm production, increase their income, and improve their livelihood. We need to change agriculture by bringing the efficiency of nature back into the science of growing food. Let’s do it now, while we still have the choice.

Michael Chaplinsky, Founder and President, Turf Feeding Systems, Inc., Houston, Texas, USA, [email protected].

Top photo illustration © Jodielee|Dreamstime. Bottom photo by the author.

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RESOURCE November/December 2014 29 last word A Tribute to Norman Borlaug Kenneth Quinn n October 16, United Nations World Food Day, more than The renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs said that some of “the 1,200 people from more than 60 countries gathered at the key issues that were part of the United Nations Millennium World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, to celebrate the Development Goals were first discussed at the World Food Prize.” conclusion of the Norman Borlaug Centennial Year. Sir Gordon Conway, agricultural ecologist and former president of OThey attended the Laureate Award Ceremony in the magnifi- the Royal Geographical Society, has called our annual Borlaug cent Iowa State Capitol, where the World Food Prize was presented Dialogue “the premier conference in the world on global agricul- to Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, a native of India who has spent most of his ture,” as it brings together ministers of agriculture, CEOs, and the professional life in Mexico building on Borlaug’s legacy by devel- president of the World Bank with smallholder farmers from Africa, oping hundreds of new varieties of wheat—which have increased research scientists, and NGO leaders. world wheat production by more than 200 million tons. During the last months of his life, Norm took heart from the They also participated in the three-day Borlaug Dialogue inter- announcement of the principles that would undergird President national symposium, the theme of which was “The greatest chal- Obama’s Feed the Future Initiative, which were first articulated by lenge in human history: Can we sustainably feed the nine billion Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the World Food Prize Laureate people who will be on our planet by the year 2050?” This theme Announcement Ceremony at the State Department on June 12, 2009. was chosen because it was the central question that animated A few months later, Bill Gates gave his first-ever speech on Borlaug’s professional life from the time he received the Nobel global agriculture and bringing the Green Revolution to Africa at Peace Prize in 1970 until his death on September 12, 2009. the Borlaug Dialogue symposium in Des Moines, just one month When Borlaug created the World Food Prize in 1986, his goal after Norm passed away. At the conclusion of his presentation, I was to establish an award that would be the equivalent of a Nobel told Mr. Gates that his initiative and call to action, which would be Prize for food and agriculture, and that would recognize and inspire launched at the forum that Norm himself had created, gave Norm exceptional breakthrough achievements in increasing the quality, great hope for the future during the last months of his life. quantity, and availability of food in the world. This past year has seen events all around the world as part of Borlaug saw, even then, that the ability to provide sufficient the Centennial Observance of Norm’s birth, calling attention to the nutritious food for everyone on our planet would be the central epic challenge we face. The centerpiece of the year was the unveil- challenge facing humanity well into the 21st century. He was fond ing of a statue of Norman Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol in of saying that, over the past 5,000 years, the human race had cumu- Washington, D.C., on March 25—Norm’s birthday. The statue was latively produced sufficient staple crops to feed almost all of the placed by his home state of Iowa, reflecting his status as the state’s people who had lived on our planet. The problem was, he added, greatest hero and America’s greatest agricultural scientist. that we had to replicate all that was grown during those five millen- A weeklong tribute to Norm was organized by CIMMYT in nia in the next 50 years. Obregon, Mexico (where a statue of Norm was erected by the local Norm often spoke of the specter of population growth in terms farmers), in addition to ceremonies at the University of Minnesota, of his home state of Iowa, where he was born on March 25, 1914. where Norm obtained his PhD in plant pathology; the USDA, where He knew that when the Iowa territory was opened for settlement in he had his first job with the U.S. Forest Service, and the World 1830, the total population on earth was approximately 1 billion peo- Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines. ple. When he was born 84 years later, the earth’s population had Other Borlaug Centennial events during the year included a increased to 1.7 billion. However, when he died in 2009, the popula- special Borlaug Global Rust Initiative celebration in Pakistan, the tion of our planet was approaching 7 billion, an increase of 5.3 bil- Sasakawa Africa Association commemoration in Uganda, a seminar lion people during the 95 years of his life, compared to an increase in his honor at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Center in Chennai, of just 700 million in the 84 years before he was born. In 2046, India, and a conference in Karaj, Iran, organized by the Agricultural when Iowa celebrates its bicentennial, the global population will sur- Biotechnology Institute of Iran. pass 9 billion. Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to Norm in his open- Norm saw the crisis of global food production coming, and he ing address at the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington, D.C. In addi- despaired that international leaders did not recognize the urgency of tion, I was pleased to be able to honor Norm in the keynote I deliv- this problem. At times, he even wondered whether the success of ered at the FAO World Food Day Commemoration in New York and the Green Revolution that he had ignited perhaps caused govern- in my remarks at the global meeting of the World Farmers ments to believe that the food problem was solved forever, causing Organization in Argentina. them to drop their guard and cut back on essential research. I often tell people that Norm’s dream was to bring the Green When Norm welcomed me to head up the World Food Prize in Revolution to Africa. His passion was for inspiring the next genera- 1999, he told me that he often felt that he was a lone voice calling tion, and his last words were: “Take it to the farmer.” attention to this urgent need. And so, together he and I worked for The World Food Prize, through its Borlaug Centennial more than a decade to build the World Food Prize annual events Observance and our annual programs, endeavors to carry forward into an occasion that would bring attention to these issues. That that legacy and to ensure that Norman Borlaug’s inspiration is with effort has paid off. us as we confront the single greatest challenge in human history. Kenneth Quinn, President, The World Food Prize Foundation, Des Moines, Iowa, USA, [email protected], www.worldfoodprize.org.

Photo illustration by Trayveon Lewis, World Food Prize intern.

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