Food for Billions
By 2050, we'll need to feed two billion more people. How can we do that without overwhelming the planet? We started an important conversation at The Ohio State University on September 12, 2013 with an event called Food for Billions. Our need for food poses one of the biggest dangers to the planet. The environmental challenges posed by agriculture are huge, and they'll only become more pressing as we try to meet the growing need for food worldwide. We need to work together to shift diets, boost crop yields, reduce food waste, and use our resources more efficiently.
UPDATES:
The National Research Council (The National Academies Press) recently held a workshop entitled, "Can Earth's and Society's Systems Meet the Needs of 10 Billion People?" Read the summary here.
Food for Billions attracted 200+ researchers, policy makers, community organizers, industry leaders, and food enthusiasts to brainstorm, innovate and invent the food system that satiates billions in a nutritious, healthy and sustainable way. Below are results from Food for Billions:
View pictures from Food for Billions here
Click Hear to listen to Town Hall Ohio Radio Broadcast
SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS
Keynote Speaker: Michael Specter
New Yorker Staff Writer Covering Science, Technology, and Public Health Issues; Author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives.
Michael Specter’s truthful, rigorously researched,and often politically incorrect views are the perfect antidote to the widespread rebellion against scientific thought and the products of scientific inquiry, such as processed and genetically engineered foods that many are boycotting. Watch Michael Specter's TedX Talk
Panel discussion: How do we provide access to culturally acceptable, healthy, nutritionally replete and accessible foods for all world citizens? Panelists provided expertise on trade, agriculture, nutrition, food waste and more. This session was expertly moderated by Ann Fisher, host of All Sides with Ann Fisher on WOSU 89.7 NPR News.
http://wosu.org/2012/allsides/nine-billion-mouths-population-and-food-sustainability/
Panelists included:
- Bob Aiken, President and CEO of Feeding America
- John Floros, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of Research and Extension, Kansas State University
- Glenna McCollum, President, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics\
- A. Ellen Terpstra, President and CEO of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC)
- Patrick Westhoff, Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Resource Institute (FAPRI), The University of Missouri
