US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called yesterday for greater innovation to feed a growing global population, but said that higher productivity need not come at the expense of conserving natural resources.
“We need to increase both the sustainability and productivity of global agriculture so that food is available, accessible and usable to people everywhere in the world,” Vilsack told a National Press Club luncheon audience in Washington, DC.
Speaking in advance of the first-ever meeting of G20 agriculture ministers in Paris on June 22-23, Vilsack highlighted the new coordinated approach of the US government to working towards global food security through the Feed the Future initiative.
USDA’s contribution to the initiative will focus on three core areas: innovation through collaborative research; in-country capacity building in areas such as regulations, natural resource management, trade, and extension; and efficient market development through information, analysis and statistics.
“Innovative research is perhaps our best opportunity for game-changing results in global agriculture,” Vilsack said, highlighting USDA initiatives such as its work to combat the wheat stem rust know as Ug-99. (See related Rust never sleeps.)