This column is from Greg Henderson, editor of Drover’s magazine, a Vance Publishing Corp. publication. Vance Publishing also owns The Packer. This column appears in the November issue of Drover’s.
It wasn’t reported on the front page of The New York Times. You didn’t hear about it on the evening news. But last month’s World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, could make history and have a profound impact on your business.
 |
|
Henderson |
The take-home message from the symposium was that we must use agricultural technology to feed humanity, improve the environment and reduce the incidence of disease. That message has been delivered by many before, of course, but this time the message came from a powerful, yet benevolent voice — Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Gates is the world’s wealthiest man, reportedly worth more than $40 billion — enough to buy the world a Big Mac. But he’s more interested in helping fund a new green revolution, and he’s telling the world it should be “greener than the first.”
Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hundreds of millions of dollars have been targeted toward health and food programs for some of the poorest people in the world. But Gates’ vision is even greater. In his first major address on agriculture, Gates called on governments, researchers, environmentalists and others to “set aside old visions and join forces” to help millions of farmers. He also announced a $120 million package of agriculture-related grants to nine institutions around the world.
“Environmentalists are standing in the way of feeding humanity through their opposition to biotechnology, farm chemicals and nitrogen fertilizer,” Gates said.
Gates’ speech was stunning because of his powerful influence in Washington and throughout the world.
Dennis Avery, director of the Center for Global Food Issues and a former agriculture analyst for the U.S. Department of State, said, “Gates could have said with equal truth that the same environmentalists, by demanding organic-only farming, are risking the future of the planet’s wildlife. The world will need more than twice as much food by 2050 to feed a peak population of 8 billion affluent humans and their pets.
“Gates believes we should get that additional food from higher yields on the 37% of the earth’s land area we already farm, not by threatening massive numbers of wildlife species by clearing more land for low-yield crops.”
“Gates has thus delivered the most important speech on food and the world’s future since Dr. Norman Borlaug accepted his 1970 Nobel Peace Prize,” Avery said.
The Gates Foundation has infused $1.4 billion into agricultural development in Africa and South Asia over the past three years. He argues that the “ideological wedge” between groups who disregard environmental concerns and groups who discount productivity gains could thwart major breakthroughs that are within reach.
“It’s a false choice, and it’s dangerous for the field,” Gates said. “It blocks important advances. It breeds hostility among people who need to work together.
“And it makes it hard to launch a comprehensive program to help poor farmers. The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability — and there is no reason we can’t have both.”
The World Food Prize and the annual conference where it is awarded was founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, a crop scientist known as the father of the green revolution. Borlaug, 95, died in September.
Ethiopian scientist Gebisa Ejeta, now a professor at Purdue University, received this year’s $250,000 prize. Ejeta was recognized for his breakthroughs in developing a drought-resistant sorghum widely used in Africa.
Gates said the environment can benefit from increased productivity.
“When productivity is too low, people start farming on grazing land, cutting down forests, using any new acreage they can. When productivity is high, people can farm on less land,” he said.
He said the world needs to develop crops that can grow in the world’s harshest conditions and survive drought and floods, while producing higher yields. He called on research companies to use technology they’ve developed for big agriculture and adapt it for the needs of small farmers. He also called on food companies to use their buying power to create markets for small farmers.
With his visibility, personal wealth and commitment to combating disease and hunger, Gates has just become modern agriculture’s greatest proponent. Let’s make sure the world hears his message.
E-mail ghenderson@drovers.com
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and tell us your opinion.