By Michelle Slimko, DrPH(C), MPH, RD, LDN

I sat as a participant at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Global Food Security Symposium 2015 on April 16 in Washington, DC. I tweeted a few key insights and thoughts during the meeting. But as I continued to listen, the number of hashtags in my head started to grow exponentially. The dialogue was rich with ideas and insightful into several core topics important to food security. In about a 10 minute window, I wrote a long list of key topics in the dialogue panel. Here’s what I came up with before having to stop because the core topics kept growing:

#nutrition, #publichealth, #foodsystems, #farmers, #climatechange, #soil, #water, #women, #children, #womenempowerment, #healthyfood, #foodsecurity, #insects, #sustainableagriculture, #economics, #fruits, #veg, #nuts, #wholegrains, #meat, #models, #collaborations, #stakeholders, #stunting, #malnutrition, #culture, #crosssector, #obesity and #overnutrition – you get the point.

I was left with the impression that this is a complex world of issues for people working in the area of food security amidst the multitude of equally complex public health challenges. It’s no wonder that this is a global issue and connects with people everywhere. Another thought I had was that each one of those hashtags represents a discipline, or area of study, that have experts who speak a different language. So, how can we address all of these swirling issues around food security?

I would like to provide some thoughts around the importance of strategic partners to help wade through this sea of food security topics. My takeaway was through all this complexity, it’s the partnerships and collaborations among passionate and dedicated people that have helped advance initiatives in this area.

1. Agricultural research is critical to our future.

Globally, this is an important issue as well. However, the US faces strong research and development (R&D) competition as China, Brazil and India increase their research investment.  This infographic, developed by the Institute of Food Technologists, helps to summarize the report Pursuing a Unifying Message and makes the argument as to why agricultural research should be a national priority. 

The report is ultimately focused on educating stakeholders about the need for a unifying message across agriculture, science, and society to bring it all together. One such solution emphasizes the importance of creating partnerships between public and private institutions to leverage innovations in research to improve society. 

2. Foster an environment for collaboration.

The book Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition & Health makes the point that there should be a focus on partnerships among agriculture, nutrition, and health. Additionally, it points to what I experienced at the meeting and states, “Professionals in agriculture, nutrition, and health speak different languages, and efforts will be needed to overcome this barrier. Their efforts will have to start at the time of professional training, through, for example, interdisciplinary problem-based learning approaches.”

When we continue to convene and learn from one another, we will enable ourselves to grow and perpetuate a global environment focused on advancing agriculture and health.

The Chicago Council’s recent report, Healthy Food for a Healthy World, includes a recommendation to develop public private partnerships to support nutrition-sensitive food systems.

3. Keep sharing partnership examples, and keep telling stories that share successful models.

Meetings such as the Global Food Security Symposium are important to attend and host. The quality in networking, collaborations and learning from each other’s partnering models can be a global language we share. There is opportunity to continue this cross pollination of ideas across areas of agriculture, whether it is from grain or animal agriculture, domestic or international regions and countries. When we can create an environment of learning, share case studies grounded in sound science, and value our story telling, we create a recipe of success.

As I left the meeting, I figured out the hashtag that made the best sense to be a part of this dialogue.

#YourAgPartnerInHealth,
Michelle Slimko, DrPH(C), MPH, RD, LDN

Michelle Slimko is Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Dairy Management Inc. Michelle works on behalf of dairy farmers to engage with public and private partners to maximize farmer investments in science and research. She is a registered dietitian and doctoral candidate in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.