Following a series of successful events in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) is bringing Food Dialogues® to Columbus, Ohio.
Tomorrow, August 15, Ohioans can tune in to the free online event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to hear from a panel of experts as they address the social, economic, environmental and emotional aspects of biotechnology and sustainability as it relates to food and farming.
COSI is hosting the event which will be moderated by Joel Riley, morning host for Columbus radio station 610 WTVN. A limited number of in-person guests will contribute to the debate and those listening online are encouraged to ask questions and offer comments.
This event comes at an appropriate time for Ohioans as we’ve followed a number of heated GMO (genetically modified organisms) debates occurring in states across the country.
The Ohio Soybean Council and Ohio Farm Bureau Federation are co-sponsors of the event and hope it will give Ohioan’s the chance to have their food questions answered.
For more information about the event visit – The Food Dialogues®: Ohio
Photo obtained from:
http://www.fooddialogues.com/events/the-food-dialogues%C2%AE-ohio
Guest author Mark Moore, published Farm Industry News story
Conferences around the world consider how farmers will be able to feed the world’s growing population, which is expected to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion people by 2050.
Agricultural research and development will be very important, just as when it helped farmers keep up when the world’s population doubled over the last 50 years.
But the task looks more difficult ahead. Production research and development must address all types of farms, including the 400 million farms in the world with less than 5 acres each. All farms will be needed to feed the world in the future.
“There will continue to be a decreasing area of agricultural land available per person globally for food production,” says David Leaver, president of the British Institute of Agricultural Consultants. For example, in 1967 there were 4.2 acres of cropland/person, and in 2007, just 1.7 acres of cropland/person were available.
Costs and regulations
While private investment in research in the developed world has been strong, overall funding has slowed over the past two decades, especially in the public sector. Adding to this concern is the global economic situation. “When in cases of financial stress, often research and development is the first to suffer,” Leaver says.
Besides funding, there are other tough obstacles for more research and development. One is the intricate maze that a new agricultural product must negotiate to come to market. A myriad of regulatory hurdles throughout the global food chain cost companies millions of dollars to handle.
Julia Wheeler, director of research and development for DuPont Crop Protection, says, “The challenge is the cost required to successfully develop the product and the resources required to bring it to market. To be successful, we must collaborate with regulatory agencies to not only improve food production, but also maintain export opportunities.”
Streamlining and harmonizing regulations would make the entire process more efficient for not only the companies involved, but the countries involved as well.
“Recently, DuPont worked with key regulators in five countries on a Global Joint Review project, in which the regulators collaborated in reviewing the global regulatory dossier,” Wheeler says. “We found that the Global Joint Review process actually reduced the product review time, even though each country conducted its own risk assessment. That’s because by sharing information on the dossier evaluation, each country decreased duplication of effort and reduced the overall amount of work required to register the product.”
Collaboration
Another key for the future of ag research and development will be collaborative efforts among all stakeholders. Already, U.S. farmers have seen collaborations between major ag biotech companies to deliver new products (SmartStax, for example). “Collaboration will be critical to encourage discovery, development and registration of new agricultural products,” Wheeler says. “We can’t operate in a vacuum.”
Leaver is critical of what he sees as “silos,” where information is not readily exchanged among organizations and where some ag research and development currently operates. “Global food security should be the focus of all our initiatives, and we need a coordinated approach to reach that goal,” he says.
Countries such as China are seeing the need to develop a secure food supply and continue to pour a tremendous amount of resources into agricultural research and development. “China is investing a lot in agriculture, especially biotech,” Wheeler says.
But research and development efforts also must include Africa, where food security is critical. Here small farmers remain a vital part of the food supply. Investments in research and development will be crucial to help these farmers contribute to the world’s food supply.
“For 40 years, global food production has kept pace with population growth and per-capita-income growth,” Leaver says. “Agricultural research and development has been a major driver of this increase. The next 40 years will mean similar productivity growth is required to satisfy the continuing rise in food demand.”
Wheeler says removing unnecessary barriers that prevent new technologies from getting into the hands of those who need it is critical to ensure continued investment. “We are in an era of urgent challenges and unique opportunities,” she says. “We must work together to meet these challenges.”
Can we trust our food?
There’s no doubt that America’s food system is complex and progressive. The process of getting food from farm to fork is extensive. Because of its vital importance, an annual summit is dedicated to learning from and bettering the methods by which we obtain our food.
The Food System Summit addresses food animal well-being, food safety, food industry technology and innovation and nutrition and health. The highlight of the event is the Center for Food Integrity (CFI) Consumer Trust Research Survey – a nationwide benchmark of current U.S. consumer opinion regarding trust in the contemporary U.S. food system.
According to its website, CFI was established in 2007 to increase consumer trust and confidence in the American food system, with the primary mission to promote dialogue, model best practices, address issues important to consumers and serve as a resource for accurate, balanced information.
This year, the summit was October 5 and 6 in Chicago.
Summit Feature Presentations Included:
- What Women Want: New Research about Beef Shopping and Implications for the Food Industry
- Religion’s Role in Framing the Discussion of Animal Well Being
- The Benefits of Modern Food Production in Today’s Economic Environment
- Technology and Today’s Food System – Cautions and Counsel
Listen to audio clips of news interviews with summit presenters.
The seminars are thought provoking and offer participants, comprising farmers, ranchers, processors, government and company associates, an opportunity for dialogue, though what most people are interested in is the annual survey that measures consumer opinion regarding food-production, transportation/handling and other issues.
Participants rated some questions using a 0-to-10 scale; “0” meant they had no concern about an issue and “10” meant they were very concerned about an issue.
The survey was conducted in August and polled 2002 people, 60 percent female and 40 percent male, using Survey Sampling International’s consumer Web panel (sampling error at 95 percent confidence level +/-2.2 percent).
Research Highlights:
- Early adopting consumers prefer online sources for information about the food system, followed by friends and family and their local television station.
- Traditional media sources, including newspapers and radio, were least preferred by early adopting consumers.
- Consumers view non-governmental organizations as the most credible sources about the humane treatment of farm animals.
- Following non-governmental organizations, consumers view farm-animal veterinarians and university experts as the most credible sources of information about the humane treatment of farm animals.
- An average rating of 6.94 was given to the question, “I trust food produced in the U.S. more than I trust food produced outside the U.S.”
- An average rating of 5.31 was given to the question, “I don’t care where my food was produced as long as it is affordable, safe and wholesome.”
- An average rating of 6.05 was given to the question, “The FDA strictly regulates the use of antibiotics given to animals raised for food.”
- An average rating of 7.22 was given to the question, “I would support a law in my state to ensure the humane treatment of farm animals.”
- An average rating of 6.25 was given to the question, “The use of herbicides and pesticides increases crop yields and crop quality, which means lower prices at the grocery store.”
There is less concern about food prices this year than the past two years, more confidence in the safety of food and more consumers feel that they have access to information about food origin, production and safety.
The ultimate goal is to learn from the research findings and improve upon areas of concern.
“We are all stakeholders in our nation’s food supply – one of the safest, most abundant and most affordable in the world,” states CFI.
As the CFI continues its yearly survey and seminar, it will be interesting to witness how American consumers adjust or maintain their food-system perceptions.
*Photo obtained from www.michiganestateplanninglawblog.com
