Global Agriculture and Food

Global Agricultural Development Initiative (2008 – present)
Launched in 2008 and expanded in 2010, the Global Agricultural Development Initiative purposes to provide policy innovation and accountability to support a long-term U.S. commitment to agricultural development as a means to alleviate global poverty and malnutrition. The initiative builds on The Chicago Council's 2009 report, Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty, which provided a strategic plan for how the U.S. could better support poverty alleviation through a refocusing of its foreign assistance on agriculture. 

Healthy Agriculture and Non-Communicable Diseases (2011)
Launched in February 2011, The Chicago Council’s Healthy Agriculture, Food, and Non-Communicable Diseases project explores the relationship between agriculture, food, and the global rise in nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). A report, Bringing Agriculture to the Table: How Agriculture and Food Policy can Play a Role in Preventing Chronic Disease, was released September 19, 2011, in advance of the High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases. The report calls on the agriculture and food sectors to play a role in mitigating the global rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and identifies new opportunities for those in health and agriculture to work together to promote better health.

Girls in Rural Economies (2010)
Launched in July 2010, the Girls in Rural Economies project purposes to examine the role of adolescent girls in the rural economic sectors of the development world and identify opportunites to better equip girls and young women to be agents of social and economic change. The project will develop recommendations for how rural girls’ personal and professional development, health, and safety can better be supported, and in turn, spur long-term economic growth and social stability. The final report, to be released in mid-2011, will serve as the next volume of the “Girls Count” series. 

Modernizing America’s Farm and Food Policy: Vision for a New Direction (2006)
Released in 2006, this task force report presented recommendations for improving America’s farm and food policies such as ending trade-distorting subsidies, redefining the farm safety net, and transforming the food stamp program.