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Panel Detail:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
9:30 AM - 10:45 AM

Building a World Without Hunger

Moderator:

Terence Smith, Journalist; Former Correspondent, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

"It will be necessary to produce as much food in the next four decades as the world produced in the last 10,000 years."

Terrence Smith opened the panel with that daunting fact.

Three things happen when people don′t have food: people migrate, people revolt, and people die. The United States must "figure out how to stabilize the global food supply if we are going to have a stable world," Josette Sheeran said.

The answer is simple yet complex: use the public sector, which has the capacity to impact change, while partnering with the private sector; align incentives; create transparency; and invest in technology, she said.

The panelists agreed that it is critical for the U.S. to take a leading role in fighting world hunger. "America should own the brand of feeding the world," Sheeran said. However, Dan Glickman said government hurdles exist. One hurdle discussed was the Bumpers Amendment, which stipulates that no aid received through the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act can be provided to anyone in a foreign country for an export that may compete with a similar U.S. product in world markets.

Whatever solutions are created must be sustainable. Rajiv Shah stressed that there is no one right answer. The solution is not transplanting a model but allowing for a customer-driven solution in each area. He also stressed that this solution must be sustainable, and smart investing must be encouraged.

Volatility in food prices and freight prices over the past year caused a hunger crisis, William Meaney said; from June 2007 to January 2008, food prices skyrocketed. The effects of changing prices are difficult to measure and include such things as farmers going in and out of business. The hunger crisis must be answered with a sustainable solution, he said, whether it′s making markets work as regions relying upon each other or teaching each country to be self-sufficient.

In the private sector, investing in appropriate technology, addressing the water crisis, and giving farmers the direct opportunities may have an immediate impact on hunger, Jerry Steiner said. Meaney noted that by working together companies such as the Zuellig Group and Monsanto could discover how to meet their risk profiles and invest in an environment where the economics make sense and instability is addressed.

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