Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations
Food 2.0: The Future of What We Eat
It was perhaps inevitable that food would become the next industry to face the bright heat of Silicon Valley disruption. The innovation driving the latest wave of food start-ups rests less on the discovery of a brand-new magic ingredient and more on a combination of data science, marketing, and sheer ambition.
Biogas, a Low-Tech Fuel with a Big Payoff
Around the world, household-run operations and industrial-scale facilities are using centuries-old technology to extract a fuel known as biogas from crop waste, manure, kitchen scraps, and even sewage. Proponents cite the benefits of harnessing biogas, such as reducing emissions, cutting waste streams, and saving the lungs of those in poor countries who would otherwise burn wood indoors.
Thirty Percent of World's Food Wasted, New Online Platform Seeks Savings
The Global Community of Practice of Food Loss Reduction web portal allows users to get information about ways of reducing waste. In developed countries, food waste usually occurs in homes or restaurants. Most of the developing world's spoilage happens during storage or transport, as infrastructure for refrigeration and preservation is often inadequate.
Nestlé Milk Factory Shake-up Aims to End Drain on Water Resources
Nestlé’s milk plant in central Mexico is the first of its kind in the world not to rely on external water sources, instead, it runs on “cow water”. By recycling the waste fluid extracted from milk when it is powdered, the company has already slashed its global water use by a third since 2005. Nestlé aims to roll out the zero-water technology in other plants worldwide.
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
Commentary - Protecting Children in Crisis: When Climate Disasters Strike
On a long plane ride home from the Philippines, I thought of the dozens of emergency sites I’d visited on this trip and the many courageous women I had met.
Commentary - Local Solutions are Essential to Help Farmers Adapt to Changing Climates
While modern innovation transformed agriculture, helping farmers continuously adapt their operations in the face of climate change remains a top priority around the world.
Commentary - Providing Food for the Future
Feeling hungry? Perhaps not now, but with the world's population expected to reach 9 billion by mid-century, tremendous efforts are needed to ensure there will be food for everybody.
Commentary - In Mozambique, Farmer Field Schools help vulnerable communities to tackle the impacts of climate change
In March 2013, rain fell in Namizope and Mukuvula communities in Angoche District, Nampula in Northern Mozambique until the water was almost up to people’s knees, inundating fields and crops.
Commentary - Which Agricultural Technologies Will Safeguard Our Food Supply?
The future is, by definition, uncertain. But when it comes to climate change, scientific research has warned us what to expect.
Commentary - Research, Science and Technology for Climate Smart Agriculture
The Chicago Council Symposium theme “Advancing Global Food Security in the Face of Weather Volatility and Climate Change” is a timely one.
Commentary - We need to irrigate Africa: Why and How
Production should be in synch with demand – think “just in time”. How do you do that? You irrigate – wherever you can.
USAID and InterAction Sign Landmark Development Partnership - And Now the Work Starts
USAID and InterAction have just announced a first-of-its-kind agreement in a major effort to accelerate progress in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition.
Commentary - Beyond 20 Percent: Why multisectoral approaches to improving nutrition matter
Undernutrition is the single biggest contributor to child mortality, and one of the world’s most serious health and human development challenges.
Commentary - Why We Still Need a Work Programme on Agriculture
Climate change has been dubbed by scientists as "the greatest challenge of our time."
Meet the Experts – Kindra Halvorson
You’ve spent a large portion of your career building public and private partnerships for agriculture to alleviate hunger and poverty. What progress has been made in terms of this collaboration?
Commentary - Sustainable intensification: a single solution for a double challenge
Our planet faces an urgent, double challenge. First – around 827 million people in the world are still going hungry.
Commentary - Changing the paradigm for drought management: The role of National Drought Policies
Drought is the costliest of all natural disasters and affects more people than any other weather-related event.
Meet the Experts: John Coonrod
What makes agriculture an important global issue? And how will climate change affect food production?
1,000 Days: The Period That Decides the Health and Wealth of the World
In this tiny village in northern Uganda, Esther Okwir heard something she could barely believe: Her child could be the country’s president one day.
