21st-Century Agriculture U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE • BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS The Bureau of International Information Programs of the U.S. Department of State publishes a monthly electronic journal under the eJournal USA logo. These journals examine major issues facing the United States and the international community, as well as U.S. society, values, thought, and institutions. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE / MARCH 2010 VOLUME 15 / NUMBER 3 One new journal is published monthly in English and is http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa.html followed by versions in French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Selected editions also appear in Arabic, Chinese, and Persian. Each journal is catalogued by volume and International Information Programs: number. Coordinator Daniel Sreebny The opinions expressed in the journals do not necessarily Executive Editor Jonathan Margolis reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government. 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Comments are welcome at your local U.S. Embassy or at the editorial offices: Cover: Vast gardens surround a futuristic city in a 21st-century landscape Editor, eJournal USA imagined by artist Kauko Helavuo. © Getty Images IIP/PUBJ U.S. Department of State 2200 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20522-0501 USA E-mail: [email protected] About This Issue nearly six times since Malthus first published his “Essay on Population.” And yet per person food consumption had increased, life expectancies lengthened, and standards of living generally improved. A significant factor was the “Green Revolution,” pioneered by the agronomist and Nobel peace laureate Norman Borlaug (1914–2009), a name that appears throughout these pages. But the contest between population and food supply has not yet been definitively won. “It took the world population millions of years to reach the first billion, then 123 years to get to the second, 33 years to the third, 14 years to the fourth, 13 years to the fifth billion…” writes Sen. The human population today stands at an estimated 6.8 billion, of whom an estimated 1.02 billion are undernourished. How we fashion a 21st-century agriculture capable of feeding them is the subject of this eJournal USA. The marriage of technical prowess and agricultural skill promises advances on many fronts: a greater abundance of food, much of it more healthful, and available in a global marketplace that affords more of us access to this bounty. Agriculture even holds a key to delivering new forms of clean energy. The voices collected here include scientists, Dave Reede/CORBIS Dave administration officials, and Indian and American winners of the World Food Prize. All are united in what Dr. Borlaug in his Nobel acceptance speech called a umanity’s longest struggle has been the ongoing “vast army” in the battle against hunger. More broadly, battle, waged with different weapons on 21st-century agriculture represents a noble application different fronts, adequately to feed itself. The H of our collective human ingenuity. May victory in this British scholar Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) doubted struggle come soon. humanity’s chances. Writing in 1798, he concluded that “the period when the number of men surpass their means of subsistence has long since arrived.” The result, Malthus — The Editors predicted, would be “misery and vice.” On the whole, Malthus has been proven wrong, at least until now. As the India-born Nobel economics laureate Amartya Sen pointed out in 1994, world population had by then grown eJOURNAL USA 1 U.S. Department OF State / MARCH 2010 / Volume 15 / NUMBER 3 http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa.html 21st-Century Agriculture FOOD SECURITY 13 Life on the Land A photo story depicts the bond between farm 4 Every Link in the Food Chain families and the land. AN INTERV I EW WI TH M. VI J A Y A GUPT A A ND PHILIP E. NELSON AGRICULTURE AND GLOBALIZATION Two winners of the annual World Food Prize discuss technologies and strategies for advancing 18 The Borlaug Legacy: A New agriculture and solving world food needs. Paradigm for Agricultural Research RO G ER BE A CHY , DI RECTOR , NA T I ON A L INST I TUTE 8 Food for the World OF FOOD A ND AG R I CULTURE The World Food Prize rewards individuals who The U.S. Department of Agriculture works to have improved the quantity, quality, or availability achieve a transformative change in agriculture to of food for the world. support the needs of the world’s population. 10 Bring Fish From the Waters 22 Feeding the “Hidden Hunger” M. Vijaya Gupta is known as the father of the The lack of proper nutrients is the cause of “blue revolution” for spreading the techniques and malnutrition, and global aid efforts address the technologies of aquaculture to developing world problem. farmers. 23 Crops Will Provide 21st-Century 11 Fresh From Farm to Plate Energy Philip E. Nelson’s work assures the freshness and EL I S A WOOD , www.RealEnergyWriters.com purity of food products. Agriculture has the potential to provide crops and plant waste that can serve as fuel in the emerging 12 U.S. Food Policy Aims for area of bioenergy. “Transformational Change” The Obama administration is advancing a Global 24 Bioenergy: Available, Renewable, Food Security Initiative. Sustainable Bioenergy can be created from many sources. eJOURNAL USA 2 28 International Agricultural Trade: Illustrated A graphic look at the bounty of global agricultural trade. 29 Agriculture in the Global Marketplace DR. C. PETER Timm ER , THO ma S D. Cab OT PROFESSOR OF DEVELOP M ENT STUD I ES , EM ER I TUS , HA RV A RD UNIVERSITY Globalization is affecting agriculture production in a variety of ways from crop selection to marketing. 33 Nature + Science = New Crops A photo story describes how science works to give food crops qualities that nature overlooked. 36 Water Sustains All Agriculture is the largest consumer of the planet’s fresh water supplies. 37 The Legacy of Plant Life The international community safeguards thousands of different plant samples and seeds to preserve the genetic diversity of the plant kingdom. 39 By the Numbers A collection of statistics about global agriculture. 40 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A collection of books, articles, and Web sites about the latest trends in agriculture. eJOURNAL USA 3 Every Link in the Food Chain An Interview With M. Vijaya Gupta and Philip E. Nelson © AP Images/Imaginechina © Juice packaged in boxes stays fresh because of the work of World Food Prize winner Dr. Philip Nelson. Producing enough food to nourish populations of increased the protein and mineral content in the diets of more the future is among the most urgent and compelling than 1 million families. Dr. Philip E. Nelson, an American problems facing humankind today. The World Food Prize citizen, holds the 2007 World Food Prize for his technological is presented each year to an individual who has “advanced breakthroughs revolutionizing the food industry in the area of human development by improving the quality, quantity, or sanitary, large-scale storage and transportation of fresh fruits availability of food in the world.” Launched in 1986, the and vegetables. prize has honored the work of diverse individuals whose achievements have focused on different aspects of agriculture, Question: What do you consider to be the single most such as the development of stronger plants or techniques to effective action that could be taken in the near term with make fallow land productive. World Food Prize laureates are available technologies to increase world food production? among the most qualified people to find ways to meet food demands of the future. Two of these scientists offer their views Gupta: I think the most effective action that is needed on these pages. is technology and financial transfer from the developed Dr. M. Vijaya Gupta of India won the 2005 World countries to the developing countries. I consider this to Food Prize as a leader of the “blue revolution,” a campaign be the most important action if you are looking at short- to promote aquaculture. His methods of fish farming have term gains in production. We need a technology transfer eJOURNAL USA 4 along with the financial assistance to implement these Gupta: Presently, what is happening is starvation and technologies in developing countries. hunger in the developing countries. Food aid is coming Presently agriculture productions are low in most of the into the countries where there is need. But we have to developing countries as compared to the developed countries develop the production within the countries or within due to lack of appropriate technologies — from production the region as that will create livelihoods and employment to marketing — and the financial resources necessary for opportunities and produce the food at an affordable price. the governments to implement development projects. We have to look at that, rather than growing the food in The developing countries need the improved production the developed countries and then transporting over long technologies — especially in the area of biotechnology and distances to the developing countries at a very high cost.