Overview
The past half century has seen rapid increases in global population
and income. Food production has grown even more rapidly than
population, however, due in part to changes in technology, input
use, and market incentives. Yet these changes have been unevenly
distributed, and have increased pressures on the earth's land,
water, and genetic resources. As such, they resurrect old questions
about our ability to meet economic and environmental objectives.
Can the world satisfy increasing demands for agricultural products
over the long term? Are sustainable resource use and food security achievable?
This research program addresses these questions through analysis
of resource quality and agricultural productivity.
Features
Crop Genetic Resources: An Economic
Appraisal—Crop genetic resources are the basis
of agricultural production. However, crop genetic resources
are largely public goods, so private incentives for genetic
resource conservation may fall short of achieving public
objectives. Within the U.S. germplasm system, certain
crop collections lack sufficient diversity to reduce vulnerability
to pests and diseases. This report examines the role of
genetic resources, genetic diversity, and efforts to value
genetic resources. (5/05)
Science
and Technology Hold Promise for Developing Countries in the
21st Century—Many
technological advances in the last century have increased agricultural
production, but all world regions have not benefited equally.
Public and private investments in the development and dissemination
of innovations could enhance the ability of developing countries
to achieve income growth and provide sufficient food for their
populations. (1/04)
Linking Land Quality, Agricultural
Productivity, and Food Security—As rising populations and
incomes increase pressure on land and other resources around the
world, agricultural productivity plays an increasingly important
role in improving food supplies and food security. This report explores
the extent to which land quality and land degradation affect agricultural
productivity, how farmers respond to land degradation, and whether
land degradation poses a threat to productivity growth and food
security in developing regions and around the world. Results suggest
that land degradation does not threaten food security at the global
scale, but does pose problems in areas where soils are fragile,
property rights are insecure, and farmers have limited access to
information and markets.
Plant
Genetic Resources: New Rules for International Exchange—All
crops descend from wild and improved genetic resources, or germplasm,
collected around the world. Since no nation has within its borders
the desired spectrum of genetic resources, international collection
and exchange occurs. The United Nations International Treaty on
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which entered
into force in 2003, is intended to govern the international exchange
of designated crop genetic resources. It will also attempt to resolve
longstanding issues over how the benefits derived from the use of
genetic resources are shared.
Global
Hunger at Its Roots—At the World Food Summit in 1996,
leaders from 186 countries set an ambitious goal: to halve the
number of hungry people (from about 800 million) by 2015. But
progress to date has been slow, and the recent drought in eastern
and southern Africa has cut food production and rural incomes
sharply in these regions, underscoring the urgency of meeting
the Summit's goal.
Who Will
Be Fed in the 21st Century? Challenges for Science and Policy—Although
the number of food-insecure people in the developing world has declined
in recent years, lack of access to enough nutritious food is a persistent
problem with devastating human costs. Whereas malnutrition is falling
in some areas, it is rapidly on the rise in others. Recent projections
show that in the absence of any concerted action to avoid this outcome,
many millions of people will still suffer from food insecurity in
the first several decades of the 21st century. This book contains
chapters on increasing the supply of food through better use of
resources and technology, ensuring greater access to the food that
is supplied, and changing the institutional structure of the food
establishment to better meet the challenge. This book was copublished
by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Economic
Research Service and the American Agricultural Economics Association.
(2001)
Recommended Readings
Economics of Sequestering Carbon
in the U.S. Agricultural Sector—Atmospheric concentrations
of greenhouse gases can be reduced by withdrawing carbon
from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and biomass.
This report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive
designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt
land uses and management practices that raise soil carbon
levels. See also the Amber Waves summary
article.
Global Resources and Productivity, chapter 3.5
in Agricultural Resources
and Environmental Indicators—Global food production has grown faster than population in recent decades, due largely to improved seeds and increased use of fertilizer and irrigation. Soil degradation which has slowed yield growth in some areas, depends on farmers' incentives to adopt conservation practices, but does not threaten food security at the global level.
See all recommended readings...
Related Briefing Rooms
Conservation Policy
Environmental Interactions with Agricultural Production
Global Climate Change
U.S. Agricultural Trade
World Trade Organization (WTO)
Questions and Answers
Important questions and answers
on issues such as resource quality
and agricultural productivity, sustainable
resource use and food security, land,
water, and genetic resources.
Related Links
The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID)—Provides economic development
and humanitarian assistance to advance U.S. economic and political
interests overseas.
The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO)—Mandated to raise levels of
nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity,
and to better the condition of rural populations.
See all related links...
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