Earlier this month, the World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Lauded for its work to combat hunger, and for being a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, WFP has stated, “Until the day we have a medical vaccine (for COVID-19), food is the best vaccine against chaos.”
As communities throughout the world battle this 2020 pandemic and await access to a vaccine, they continue to fight an age-old enemy — food insecurity. The number of people affected by hunger globally has been rising since 2014, and projections show that the world is not on track to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.
Since 2019, the number of people, including children and seniors, who struggle to afford food in Minnesota alone has grown dramatically due to COVID-19, from one in 11 to one in eight people. BIPOC Minnesotans experience food insecurity at more than twice the rate of white Minnesotans. Across the country, 80 percent of food banks are serving more people than they did at this time last year, as many people affected by COVID-19 are visiting them for the first time.
While these data are daunting, there is reason for hope. Today, we are as relentless as our most famous alumnus, Norman Borlaug, in applying science and policy to alleviate hunger, provide good nutrition, and protect the environment. On the day the World Food Programme received its well-deserved award from Oslo, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of Borlaug receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his landmark research into crop improvement that launched the Green Revolution and, as a member of the 1970 Nobel Committee said, “making the fight against hunger your lifelong mission, your passionate calling.”
So what does Borlaug’s work mean for us today? Feeding the world while protecting the environment is a tall order. No entity can do it alone. To create a better tomorrow, we must take a cross-disciplinary approach that involves the distinct expertise of public and private institutions, governments, NGOs and food banks locally and globally.
We must also take an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to science, creating solutions for Minnesota and the world. Our approaches are diverse, reflecting the complexity of food insecurity.
For example, we are developing and advancing perennial grain crops like Kernza, which can both improve the environment and benefit rural prosperity. On the test fields of our St. Paul campus and on a growing number of farms across the country, Kernza’s deep root system provides multiple environmental benefits, including improved water and soil quality and reducing soil erosion. In addition, research has shown Kernza can increase farm income due to decreased inputs and costs from reduced tilling, pesticide requirements and nutrient runoff.
On the campus where Borlaug once studied, our researchers use microbes to create healthier plants. Minnesota’s native prairies are composed of a thriving community of perennial herbaceous plants, despite the presence of diverse and deadly plant pathogens. Working with strains of “good” soil bacteria found in these native prairie systems, our researchers have disentangled the reasons why these plants have been able to evade significant disease — and applied those lessons to agriculture to create healthier, more productive crops, while reducing the use of pesticides and fumigation.
With the goal of teaching tomorrow’s leaders, we put our students first and involve them in this type of hands-on work and much more.
We know that it is critical to conduct world-class research that cuts across every area impacting food security and nutrition, starting in the field all the way to consumers’ plates. We must work toward feeding the future with creativity, fierce tenacity and fervent effort.
Norman Borlaug is celebrated as a person who “saved a billion lives” — a man who bent the arc of history by improving crops and transforming agricultural production, thus preventing famine and unrest around the world. I am inspired by his legacy and heartened to know that our next generation of professionals in food, agriculture and natural resources is well-positioned, deeply committed and energized to build a better world for billions of people as well.
James M. Bradeen is a professor and head of the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences in St. Paul. He’s co-director of the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health.
"feed" - Google News
December 24, 2020 at 01:11PM
https://ift.tt/37LmJtV
James M. Bradeen: Building on Borlaug to feed the future - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
"feed" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z3xEQN
https://ift.tt/2yko4c8
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "James M. Bradeen: Building on Borlaug to feed the future - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press"
Post a Comment