Food Security - National Agricultural Biotechnology Council ...

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My favorite example is the reduction of groundwater use for irrigation by farmers inIndia, through the Andhra Pradesh Farmer-Managed Groundwater Systems (APFAMGS)project. Groundwater, in small, hard-rock aquifers is being depleted at an unsustainablerate, as in many other parts of the world. The hydrology is well known, as are the problemsassociated with common-property resource management. The solution, implementedby a consortium of ten local NGOs—with support from FAO—covers about a millionfarmers in six districts, organized in village-based groundwater-management committees.The focus of the work is on participatory monitoring of hydrological data and crop-waterbudgeting, without any outside-imposed water-use targets or coercion, or, indeed, recommendationby outsiders that reduction of groundwater use is a goal.The core concept of APFAMGS is that sustainable management of groundwater isfeasible only if users understand its occurrence, cycle, and limited availability. To achievethis, the project adopted an approach aimed at demystifying the science by translatingthe concepts of hydrogeology and groundwater management to make them accessible tofarmers, many of limited literacy. Based on this knowledge, the outcome has been cropdiversification and changes in practice with increased income and reductions in groundwaterwithdrawal leading to improved (but often still elusive) sustainability of watersupply. This process of adult learning for better farm management may sound obvious,but this may be the only example globally where it has led to reduced water use. Often,when water is used more efficiently, total usage goes up. This case is also a good example ofconverging objectives (less water use and more farmer income) and converging disciplines(hydrology, agronomy, economics, community organization). Its success, however, clearlycomes from the convergence of science and society, equipping and empowering farmersand their communities to make better decisions.Other examples come from ways that some countries have dealt successfully with HIV/AIDS, approaching it not as a complicated problem of limited resources for distributionof anti-retrovirals and healthcare, but as a complex problem where people and institutionscan be empowered to come up with creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.Brazil is a good example, highlighted in a Canadian study of how to improve its own healthsystem. Brazilians could have framed the spread of HIV as a complicated problem withmore or less foregone and dire conclusions (e.g. the drugs were too expensive to be givento all, so limiting choices had to be made; illiterate people cannot be expected to complywith a complicated regime of therapy; resources are very limited so the main focus shouldbe on prevention rather than treatment). These, in fact, were the conclusions of a WorldBank study. Rather than this approach, however, the country found ways to reduce thecost of drugs (breaking international patents); found creative ways to induce illiteratepeople to follow their treatment regimens; used informal networks to supply food andtrain people to care for themselves; and combined prevention as part of treatment andused treatment to encourage prevention strategies.Food safety and defense, along with other security threats, require a greater appreciationby society of the science and, in turn, people’s understanding of science-based risks. Riskcommunication is a big part of this, as are educational and training programs. This is amajor challenge, especially where there is conflict over desired outcomes, where values,Gustafson33
perspectives and priorities differ among participants, all of whom need to be involved toachieve meaningful solutions.Obstacles to ConvergenceThis leads us, in conclusion, to two significant obstacles to convergence. The first is thedifficulty in designing meaningful indicators. Cross-disciplinary work and programs thatare designed to achieve multiple objectives naturally increase the desire to have commonindicators. This makes sense, but it has its own problems, both practical and conceptual.Are we measuring the right things? The head of the UK’s Department for InternationalDevelopment defended its new emphasis on demanding impact measurement by openingwith a question: Does emphasis on measuring impact . . .. . . encourage us to indulge in a host of evils—to focus narrowly on the easywins, to adopt ‘one-size-fits-all’ methodology, to take simplistic views of complexsocieties, and to mortgage long-term change for short-term gain?The second obstacle is the inherent difficulty in creating a shared understanding of theproblems and shared commitment to solutions. The theme of the 1933 Chicago World’sFair was “A Century of Progress,” with the motto: Science Finds—Industry Applies—ManConforms. This was probably never true, but clearly is not operative today. It is very difficultto integrate science and society where values are in conflict, where experts from science orindustry expect to dictate policy objectives or command conformity. There is, for betteror worse, reduced faith in the ability of science to manage risks, coupled with increasingcommunication within communities of like-minded individuals who share strong beliefsand opinions regardless of the evidence. We do not have consensus on issues like GMOs,climate change, animal welfare, international trade and many others.Nevertheless, convergence of sustainability, food safety and defense is essential. I hopethat the concept of the importance of simultaneous win-win objectives, the integrationof disciplines in a systems-approach, and the convergence of science and society will helpus think through the issues that the NABC-23 conference speakers will present.34 Food Security: The Intersection of Sustainability, Safety and Defense
Page 2: 2011National Agricultural Biotechno
Page 5 and 6: NABC Report 23Food Security: The In
Page 7 and 8: AcknowledgmentsNABC’s twenty-thir
Page 9 and 10: Participants in the Student Voice a
Page 11 and 12: 123 Preparing for Emerging and Unkn
Page 13 and 14: Food Security: The Intersection of
Page 15 and 16: These interconnected threads demand
Page 17 and 18: In the developed world, it will req
Page 19 and 20: On the other hand, his definition o
Page 21 and 22: Plenary Session 4. Emerging Biotech
Page 23 and 24: 12 Food Security: The Intersection
Page 27 and 28: The participants’ responses did n
Page 29 and 30: they are safe. Cultural barriers ca
Page 31 and 32: • Hydrological mapping, as in Min
Page 33 and 34: • Food security is a multidiscipl
Page 39 and 40: awareness beyond anything that advo
Page 41 and 42: • Some research results indicate
Page 43: change, reduce or remove GHG emissi
Page 49 and 50: Water• Withdrawals from the Color
Page 51 and 52: Efficient Use of Resources• We ne
Page 53 and 54: • Foley is working with Google to
Page 55 and 56: drinking water, stormwater, agricul
Page 57 and 58: Table 1A. Issues, strategies and de
Page 59 and 60: The Framework in Summary—A Ten- a
Page 61 and 62: If funded, Research Implementation
Page 63 and 64: If funded, Research Implementation
Page 65 and 66: to be initiated in the first five y
Page 67 and 68: Deborah Swackhamer is professor and
Page 69 and 70: These under-nutrition woes are not
Page 71 and 72: gies. Agricultural sustainability r
Page 73 and 74: Investment in TechnologyImproved pe
Page 75 and 76: Last November, the Forum announced
Page 77 and 78: Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Page 79 and 80: Food and Agriculture Organization (
Page 83 and 84: Richard Isaacson (University of Min
Page 85 and 86: possibility of cross-pollination th
Page 87 and 88: in part to companies like Cargill w
Page 89 and 90: Ralph Hardy (National Agricultural
Page 91 and 92: and the impacts those things have o
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Analyses of multiple de-greening ci
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June Medford, a professor of biolog
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Genetically Modified CropsIt is cle
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the toxin levels are higher than wo
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• Separate common species• Sepa
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We have a similar situation in the
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ReferencesLövei GL et al. (2009) T
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Figure 1. Canada’s food-safety sy
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However, significant challenges rem
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confirmed cases in seven provinces,
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104 Food Security: The Intersection
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and from the IIASA Strategic Plan 2
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provided software support. We also
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Figure 4. Biological agents (classi
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Detlof von Winterfeldt is the direc
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Medford: For things like explosives
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Robert Buchanan (University of Mary
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Ishimaru: In particular with wheat,
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Duplessis: In terms of microfluidic
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Emergence/Re-EmergenceRegarding eme
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• Anticipate and prevent the emer
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AcuteWith a new emergence, the need
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Assessing Immune StatusDuring an ou
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Table 1. Recent zoonotic agents ide
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Figure 2. The impact of culling she
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ecognized as a new disease among ca
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The West Nile virus is another dram
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deer in an attempt to limit the tra
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disease centers for training, resea
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Lanciotti RS et al. (1999) Origin o
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Plant diseases still affect human h
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Climate ChangeThe predicted transit
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In addition to the NPDRS and the NP
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arely have a realistic understandin
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National Research Council (NRC) (20
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our universities we can increase aw
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evidence and no microbiologic evide
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food-preservation technologies and
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concern, particular products of con
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PreventionMuch can and should be do
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Figure 3. Selected recent multi-sta
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Figure 6. PulseNet electronic commu
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Figure 10. All Salmonella Typhimuri
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Figure 13. Listeriosis in the Unite
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Figure 15. Case definitions for clu
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Figure 18. The surveillance process
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Figure 20. Etiology of acute gastro
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I will discuss emerging intentional
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low-level contamination is on-going
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Sometimes these supply chains fall
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Clearly, the food system is globall
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Figure 13. 2010 Cocoa and cocoa-pre
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damage on those who profit from the
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target population. In their lives,
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it before it reaches the consumer.
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Shaun Kennedy is director of the Na
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ing replacements for cream, for exa
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safety system in reality by guarant
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Figure 2 shows the types of identif
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on better standards for Chinese sta
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Figure 6. Skim-milk-powder project:
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Jeffrey C. Moore is a scientific li
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John Besser: I was a little mystifi
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forensic purposes, as used with OJ
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my farmer friends thought I was cra
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Minnesota’s HeritageAs to why som
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in reality, legislation alone won
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The other aspect of this challenge
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private industry, enhancing the pro
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But it does seem that the United St
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Cathie Woteki is under secretary fo
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We offer the following comments and
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Ehlke, NancyUniversity of Minnesota
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Lumor, StephenUniversity of Minneso
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