Global leaders are increasingly viewing food and nutrition as critical factors underpinning national and international security in the face of economic, political, and environmental crises worldwide. The same challenges confront experts working in international agriculture and rural development, while food insecurity and malnutrition continue to rise around the world. These challenges and the reactions they have drawn from world leaders have led some to call into question the effectiveness of existing global institutions and systems in ensuring the availability of food on community and national levels.
In that context, the 2009 Borlaug Dialogue asked experts and decision-makers from around the world how their fields – in policy, industry, science and academia, and development – can ensure adequate access to food and nutrition for, and thus contribute to the security of, all people.
To address that question, several hundred participants representing more than 65 countries – including leading policymakers and diplomats, CEOs and senior private-sector executives, and experts from academia, research, and the development community – engaged in a range of conversations on compelling and critical topics including:
- Food and agriculture in the context of national and international security
- Poverty, hunger, and food security in global crisis areas
- Continuing to address gender in agricultural development
- Providing nutrition and enhancing health, especially among women and young children
- New and cutting-edge technological approaches to farming and food
- Harmonizing organic and sustainable agricultural practices with modern technology and genetics
- The future of agriculture in an urban, global world
- Preserving and renewing soil and water resources
- Prospects for trade in agriculture and food
- The institutions necessary for a food-secure world
- Assessing progress in global agriculture and identifying areas for needed investment
