Feeding the planet

As we begin a new year with enormous political and economic uncertainty still with us, we find there is much work left to do. Policymakers in Washington continue to grapple with a dire fiscal situation, while policymakers abroad also face severe fiscal and economic issues.

These fiscal emergencies, while enormously important, serve as profound distractions from other issues that threaten our global economy and security. In fact, we’re now standing on the edge of another precipice — a food cliff — with major consequences for individuals, communities and countries around the world.

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The food cliff is caused by a perfect storm of challenges facing the globe today.

First, our changing climate is resulting in more volatile weather conditions around the world, threatening the livelihoods of farmers. The drought this past summer was the worst the U.S. has faced in decades, affecting roughly 60 percent of the country. Meanwhile, extreme flooding in other parts of the world added to the overall reduction in food output in 2012.

Second, the numbers speak for themselves: Worldwide, 870 million people suffer from chronic hunger or undernourishment, which kills more people each year than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Yet we will have 2 billion more people to feed by 2050.

Third, we are already using the equivalent of a planet-and-a-half of resources in a given year, making the challenge to increase agricultural productivity around the world for a growing, more affluent population even more complex. In fact, we are pushing the world’s reliance on tradeable food supplies into geographic areas that are twice as volatile in terms of annual output as the more traditional surplus-production areas, ensuring that market volatility will become even greater in the future.

As a consequence, while food and nutrition security typically do not rise to the top of the priority list for policymakers, they should — for the future health and stability of the globe.

People without access to adequate amounts of nutritious food are less likely to lead fully productive and active lives. For children, chronic hunger can result in stunting, an irreversible condition that leaves millions of children in developing countries forever developmentally behind their peers — denied from ever realizing their full potential.

Food and nutrition security doesn’t just benefit the malnourished. A productive society leads to stronger economies, and countries with strong economies are able to bestow their benefits more widely, resulting in greater political stability. Poverty and hunger are often the root cause of political and economic instability, as well as social unrest. The dramatic food price increases during 2007 and 2008, for example, led to food riots and violence in many parts of the world.

DuPont Advisory Committee on Agricultural Innovation and Productivity