This report calls on the United States to use the power of the agriculture and food sector to reduce the reality and risks of malnutrition globally.
Leveraging Agriculture and Food to Improve Global Nutrition
Introduction
This report calls on the United States to use the power of the agriculture and food sector to reduce the reality and risks of malnutrition globally. The report was presented for the first time at The Chicago Council’s Global Food Security Symposium 2015 in Washington, DC.
Malnutrition – from undernourishment to obesity – is a global challenge affecting every country on earth and placing more than one quarter of the world’s population at serious health risk. Given that nutrition is driven largely by the food people eat, making nutrition a priority in developing the global food system could give billions more people access to the healthy foods they need to thrive, drive economic growth in poor countries, and increase the incomes of 2.5 billion small-scale farmers, many of whom themselves are malnourished.
Key Recommendations
The report, Healthy Food for a Healthy World: Leveraging Agriculture and Food to Improve Global Nutrition, recommends that:
- The US Congress commit to a long-term global food and nutrition strategy focused on agricultural development and convene a bipartisan commission on how to tackle nutrition challenges globally.
- The US government, in partnership with universities and research institutes, increase funding for nutrition research to expand access to nutrient-rich foods and address malnutrition.
- The United States draw on the strength of its research facilities and universities to train the next generation of agriculture, food, and nutrition leaders both here and in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Government and industry work together to support more efficient and wider delivery of healthy foods, especially through technologies that can reduce food waste and enhance food safety.
About the Report
An independent group of 30 senior policy, business, scientific, and civil society leaders – cochaired by Doug Bereuter, president emeritus of The Asia Foundation, and Dan Glickman, former US secretary of agriculture, and led by Catherine Bertini, distinguished fellow at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs – endorsed the report’s recommendations. See the full list of signatories.
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs report, Healthy Food for a Healthy World, was endorsed by an independent group of senior policy, business, scientific, and civil society leaders.
Signatories include:
- Douglas Bereuter (cochair), President Emeritus, The Asia Foundation; Former Member, US House of Representatives
- Catherine Bertini (task force leader), Distinguished Fellow, Global Agriculture & Food, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
- Ekin Birol, Head, Impact Research Unit, HarvestPlus, and Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute
- Marshall Bouton, President Emeritus, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
- Howard W. Buffett, President, Buffett Farms Nebraska LLC
- John Carlin, Visiting Professor and Executive-in-Residence, Kansas State University; Former Governor, Kansas
- Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, Markets and Food, World Wildlife Fund
- Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development, Imperial College London
- Gebisa Ejeta, Distinguished Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics and International Agriculture and Director, Center for Global Food Security, Purdue University
- Cutberto (Bert) Garza, University Professor, Boston College; Visiting Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Visiting Professor, George Washington University’s School of Public Health
- Dan Glickman (cochair), Former US Secretary of Agriculture; Former Member, US House of Representatives; Vice President, The Aspen Institute; Senior Fellow, The Bipartisan Policy Center
- Carl Hausmann, Former CEO, Bunge North America
- Andrew Jones, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, University of Michigan
- A.G. Kawamura, Cochair, Solutions from the Land Dialogue
- Mark E. Keenum, President, Mississippi State University
- Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Professor Emerita of Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania
- Carolyn Miles, President and CEO, Save the Children
- Robert H. Miller, Divisional Vice President, R&D, Scientific & Medical Affairs, Abbott Nutrition
- Namanga Ngongi, Chairperson, African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership and Former President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
- Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank
- Thomas R. Pickering, Vice Chairman, Hills and Company
- Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Graduate School Professor, Cornell University; Adjunct Professor, University of Copenhagen; Chair, High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition
- Steven Radelet, Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development and Director of the Global Human Development Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Cynthia E. Rosenzweig, Senior Research Scientist, Columbia University
- Navyn Salem, Founder, Edesia/Global Nutrition Solutions
- Paul E. Schickler, President, DuPont Pioneer
- Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO and Head of Mission, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network
- Robert L. Thompson, Visiting Scholar, John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced
- International Studies; Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois
- Ann M. Veneman, Former Executive Director, UN Children’s Fund; Former Secretary, US Department of Agriculture
- Derek Yach, Executive Director, The Vitality Group
