Report Urges U.S. Commitment to Addressing Impact of Climate Change on Global Food Security?

U.S. government action can curb the risks climate change poses to global food security, says a new report from The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The report, Advancing Global Food Security in the Face of a Changing Climate, is being released today at the Council’s Global Food Security Symposium 2014 in Washington DC. U.S. National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah are delivering keynote addresses. Watch live streaming video of the event atYouTube.com/TheChicagoCouncil.

The report calls on the U.S. government to integrate climate change adaptation into its global food security strategy. Recommendations include:

Passing legislation for a long-term global food and nutrition security strategy.
Increasing funding for agricultural research on climate change adaptation. Research priorities should include improving crop and livestock tolerance to higher temperatures and volatile weather, combating pests and disease and reducing food waste.
Collecting better data and making information on weather more widely available to farmers. There are significant global data gaps right now on weather; water availability, quality, and future requirements; crop performance; land use; and consumer preferences.
Increasing funding for partnerships between U.S. universities and universities and research institutions in low-income countries, to train the next generation of agricultural leaders.
Advancing international action through urging that food security be addressed through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

A bipartisan group of scientific, business, and policy leaders led by former Congressmen Dan Glickman (D), former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and Doug Bereuter, president emeritus of The Asia Foundation (R), have endorsed the report’s recommendations. Gerald C. Nelson, a leading expert on climate change and food security, was the principal author. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PepsiCo provided generous support to make this report possible.

Mary Boote

Mary Boote serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Global Farmer Network. Raised on a Northwest Iowa dairy, pork, corn, and soybean family farm, she had the privilege of serving as agriculture adviser to Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad from 1997-1999.

Through the Global Farmer Network, Mary works with farmers around the world to develop and deliver communication platforms that engage the farmers' perspective and voice as an integral part of the dialogue regarding the global agri-food system. The mission: To amplify the farmers' voice in promoting trade, technology, sustainable farming, economic growth, and food security.

Named as one of the Worldview 100: Global Industry's top 100 Visionaries and Leaders in Biotechnology by Scientific American Worldview in 2015, Mary has had the opportunity to travel internationally, serving on agriculture leadership missions that focused on issues as varied as instruction on strategic planning and personal representation for privatized agriculturalists in newly independent countries to learning more about smallholder maize projects to observing the trade negotiation process at the World Trade Organization.

Mary attended Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa and was privileged to participate in the 2009 Harvard AgriBusiness Seminar.