January 9, 2017

Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

Chinese farmers carry zucchini inside their farm during a visit by China's Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu for the Sudan-China Agriculture Cooperation Development Forum in Khartoum, Sudan. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

How Inclusive Business Can Tackle Poverty in China
While China has seen amazing economic development over the past three years, it is also home to ever-increasing income inequality. In rural areas, farmers still use primitive farming techniques on increasingly eroded soil in small farmlands, barely making ends meet. However, a new e-commerce platform is helping rural households increase their incomes and expand the sales channels for their agricultural products.

The Goat Slaughterhouse That Drives a Kenyan Slum's Economy
Dressed in a white apron and black gum boots, 24-year-old Osman Idris waits patiently outside a Nairobi slaughterhouse in the Kiamaiko slum as scores of customers stream past in search of fresh goat meat. Unlike the majority of Kenyan slums where unemployment, insecurity and crime are rife, Kiamaiko has seen more jobs and small businesses flourish as a result of a burgeoning goat market.

The Next Generation of Farmers Is Being Trained in New York City High Schools
While high schools in rural farming areas have long prepared students for jobs in agriculture, aquaculture, and biotechnology, they can't come close to meeting the demand. So some urban public high schools, including the Food and Finance High School in midtown Manhattan, are stepping in to fill the void.

Meat Matters: Green Trends in the Meat Sector
Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor and hog producer in the world, estimates that its operations emit as much carbon dioxide per year as five coal-fired power plants. That's why Smithfield recently became the first meat company to set a farm-to-fork climate goal. The pork giant plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 25% over the next eight years. 

 

About

The Global Food and Agriculture Program aims to inform the development of US policy on global agricultural development and food security by raising awareness and providing resources, information, and policy analysis to the US Administration, Congress, and interested experts and organizations.

The Global Food and Agriculture Program is housed within the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides insight – and influences the public discourse – on critical global issues. The Council on Global Affairs convenes leading global voices and conducts independent research to bring clarity and offer solutions to challenges and opportunities across the globe. The Council is committed to engaging the public and raising global awareness of issues that transcend borders and transform how people, business, and governments engage the world.

Support for the Global Food and Agriculture Program is generously provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Blogroll

1,000 Days Blog, 1,000 Days

Africa Can End Poverty, World Bank

Agrilinks Blog

Bread Blog, Bread for the World

Can We Feed the World Blog, Agriculture for Impact

Concern Blogs, Concern Worldwide

Institute Insights, Bread for the World Institute

End Poverty in South Asia, World Bank

Global Development Blog, Center for Global Development

The Global Food Banking Network

Harvest 2050, Global Harvest Initiative

The Hunger and Undernutrition Blog, Humanitas Global Development

International Food Policy Research Institute News, IFPRI

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Blog, CIMMYT

ONE Blog, ONE Campaign

One Acre Fund Blog, One Acre Fund

Overseas Development Institute Blog, Overseas Development Institute

Oxfam America Blog, Oxfam America

Preventing Postharvest Loss, ADM Institute

Sense & Sustainability Blog, Sense & Sustainability

WFP USA Blog, World Food Program USA

Archive




Live Blog Post - Every Farmer Wants What I Have

A recap of the "Managing Risks Associated with Volatile Weather, Changing Climates, and Resource Scarcity" panel at our fifth Global Food Security Symposium 2014 in Washington, DC.



Expert Commentary by Trey Hill

As a large grain producer, living in the mid Atlantic, I am able to see agriculture and food production from a unique perspective.



Live Blog Post - Climate-Smart Food Security

At the Chicago Council’s Global Food Security Symposium today in Washington, DC, a panel on “Climate-Smart Food Security” addressed the role of family farmers in mitigating the effects of climate change including: climate-smart approaches already being used by smallholder farmers, opportunities to preserve natural resources, and the need for a “brown revolution.”


Expert Commentary by James Cameron

There remains a stubborn lack of understanding about the systemic connection between water, food, energy and the climate – and what this means for the future feeding of the world.


Commentary - Optimism about Agriculture’s Adaptive Capacity

The impacts of a changing climate on food security projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Climate Assessment and now the Chicago Council on Global Affairs raise legitimate concerns about the global food system’s ability to meet increasing challenges.


Expert Commentary by Chris Policinski

Discussions this week about the impact weather volatility and climate change have on global food production provide additional, powerful evidence of the fragile state of our world’s food security.