By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor
 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Despite the overwhelming number of technological and engineering innovations of the 20th century, nearly one billion people around the world still find themselves hungry and struggling to feed their families in the 21st century, according to Roger Thurow, co-author of Enough – Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty.

“It’s amazing to me that we’ve brought hunger with us into the 21st century,” said Thurow, senior fellow for global agriculture and food policy at The Chicago Council, who presented the keynote address during the Indiana Livestock, Forage and Grain Forum Jan. 28. “Tonight, one billion people will go to bed hungry. That is truly outrageous. This is our one great problem that can be solved.”

Thurow believes the solution lies within the knowledge, technology and experience of society, particularly within the agricultural industry. “This can be the true singular achievement of our age,” he said.

He then referenced the great Dr. Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist, humanitarian and Nobel Laureate credited with fathering the “Green Revolution,” who sounded the warning early on. Borlaug claimed the world was “guilty of criminal negligence if we allow global hunger to persist.”

With nearly 25,000 people dying every day from hunger, Thurow seemed to agree with Borlaug.

“Our goal, our mantra in writing this book was to outrage and inspire readers,” he explained. “We wanted to ask the question, literally, why so many starve in a world of plenty. This is the greatest crime of our age – what else would you call it?”

The outrage – simply, why hunger? he said. The inspiration – why not hunger? – why not make hunger the greatest achievement of the 21 century? Thurow painted a dark, dark picture of what is going on in many starving nations in Africa.

“These farm families have no access to financing, no infrastructure, no crop insurance, no subsidies. When the crop fails in Africa, people die. This is what it’s like not to be able to grow enough food to feed your family,” he explained, as he illuminated the screen with photos of dilapidated sheds for storage and mud huts for homes in Kenya. “Starving farmers, this is a great irony; it should be an oxymoron, not a true realism.”

Thurow added that most farm families have never had any formal education or guidance on how to grow row crops and raise livestock. “Traditionally, they just scatter seed over the ground like they’re feeding chickens and they use very little hybrid seed,” he explained.

In fact, less than 20 percent of their food comes from hybrid seed, he said, adding “their yields are far below the rest of the world.” Thurow challenged members of the audience to become a part of the solution; to not only give them food, but the tools to grow their own food.

“It’s the transformation of agriculture that has led to great global prosperity – this could be Africa’s story,” he said. “After years of negligence, let’s give ag development a chance; this is the right thing for everyone.”

Thurow discussed the emerging political momentum for an ag revolution in Africa, including a $3.5 billion pledge over the course of three years by the Obama administration toward ending world hunger. But that is not enough, he challenged.

“We need to get farmers (in Africa) to think of farming as a business, go from subsistence to sustainability – move from farming to live to living to farm,” Thurow said, going on to explain that food supplies begin to dwindle rapidly after only three to four months post-harvest in Africa.

Looking into the eyes of a starving child for the first time was a defining moment in Thurow’s life. “For the first time, I saw that no one should die of hunger. From that moment, this became my mission. It became a disease of my soul. I needed to find the answers. Hunger became the only story I wanted to write. I wanted to take readers into the eyes of hunger,” he said, drawing the audience to a deadening silence.

He challenged the group to generate a grassroots clamor. “Be the inspiration. Let’s spark this disease of the soul. Now that we’re in the second decade of the 21st century, no one should be starving of hunger,” he said.

Following up Thurow’s inspirational and, for many, motivational address was Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco Animal Health, who recently completed a white paper on Why Agriculture Needs Technology to Help Meet a Growing Demand for Safe, Nutritious and Affordable Food.

“Globally, there are 500 people who can make a difference, but our time is running out,” said Simmons. “Food costs are going up, input costs are going up. In just two-and-a-half minutes, 31 people will die from hunger; that is 17,976 people a day.”

Similar to Thurow, Simmons challenged members of the audience to personalize the issue, engage the food chains and take action.
“We have the window of opportunity to do it better, more efficiently than anyone else,” he said, describing how innovations in ag technology can help solve world hunger issues.

In fact by 2050, the world population will need 100 percent more food and 70 percent of this will come from efficiency-improving technology, Simmons explained. “This is about doing it better by the way you do it,” he said. “Using technology to bring food costs down is a more sustainable solution than trying to fix poverty.”

He cited technological advances in genetics, nutrition, disease and pest control and livestock management as critical to the success of doubling world food production in the next 40 years. The good news, he said, is that an ultimate win-win for the world is still possible.

He credits the future of five key achievements in facing the global food crisis, including improving the affordability of food by using new and existing technologies; increasing the food supply by instituting a vastly improved degree of cooperation across the global food chain; ensuring food safety with a combination of technology and high-quality standards and systems; increasing sustainability through a highly-productive and efficient system that protects the environment by means of sensitive and efficient use of natural resources; and producing more biofuels to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, while creating no negative effect on global food supplies.

“Food is a moral right. The fact that one out of six people go hungry is wrong. The fact that one out of four children are hungry is wrong,” Simmons stated. “There is plenty to think about today. But you should know we’re in this together. We’re going to make providing the world a safe, affordable food supply a reality.”