We have an embarassment of holiday riches this week. Just three days after National Coming Out Day, today we are blessed with World Food Day. Nom nom nom.

More seriously, the point of World Food Day is to bring attention to food insecurity around the world. Learn more about world hunger at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

photo courtesy of flickr user World Economic Forum

Last night, Bill Clinton hosted an anything-goes meeting of the minds with a diverse group of bloggers to kick off the 5th Annual Clinton Global Initiative conference.  I was lucky enough to attend, and we got a few really good questions in about agricultural aid.  I’ll have more on the policy later, but I wanted to share one memorable line of the night.

Natasha Chart asked the former President about how they (aid organizations) plan to address the problem of seed patents turning peasant farmers into indentured servants of mega-seed companies like Monsanto.  While we didn’t get him to declare that this indeed is a problem in need of fixing, he did exclaim:

“If it were up to me, we’d do it all organically.”

Now Natasha had not even mentioned the word “organic” in her question. Clinton kinda pulled that out of no where.  It was unclear if that was the solution that he thought food activists want to hear, or even if he fully understands what it means for developing countries to go organic and has heard the arguments for and against an organic solution.

I for one, don’t think that we have to have an organic solution, but we do need a sustainable one. I’ll have more on Clinton’s comments from last night later.

When the Great Recession hit here, people lose their McMansions.  When a  global economic crisis hits the developing world, people starve to death.

Worldwide, the number of hungry people is estimated to have reached 1.02 billion — up 11 percent from last year’s 915 million, FAO has said.

Use the phrase “Green Revolution” these days and most people will think of new age windmills and solar panels.  But, back in the sixties, the Green Revolution meant something very different.  The term was coined in 1968 to describe the massive advances agriculture experienced during the preceding 20 years.

The Green Revolution was funded by the massive foundations of the time, the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. These foundation still exist and are still amongst the largest in the world, however it could be argued that their contributions to the Green Revolution was their most defining success (with the eradication of certain diseases such as yellow fever as a close second). In the mid 1940s, the Foundations decided to partner with the Mexican government to develop a program to conduct agriculture research in hopes of developing high yield crop species.

In 1944, Norman Borlaug was hired away from DuPont labs to become the chief geneticist and plant pathologist of the Cooperative Wheat Research Production Program, and agriculture was never the same again. Borlaug developed over 6,000 varieties of wheat during his time in Mexico, including many disease resistant hybrids to protect against such blights as stem rust.  In 1953, Borlaug’s research lead to the creation of the semi-dwarf wheat, the plant that changed the face of hunger on Earth.

The semi-dwarf wheat produced wheat with tougher, thicker stalks 1/2 to 2/3 the height of normal wheat.  These stalks had been crossed with high yield wheat that produced double the head seed size of normal wheat.  Normally such large seed heads would cause the stalks to fall over, but the new shorter, sturdy stalks could support the weight.  With this discovery, wheat production doubled(pdf).

Mexico went from importing half its wheat in 1943 to self-sufficiency by 1956 and, by 1964, to exporting half a million tons of wheat.

Prior to the semi-dwarf wheat, it was a widely held belief that India, with its massive population who never be able to feed itself due to the fact that the country simply did not have enough farmland to yield the amount of crop necessary to support themselves.  Borlaug’s discovery changed all that.

The Green Revolution never quite made it to Africa for a number of reasons, including lack of government support and reliable irrigation systems. However, Borlaug’s discoveries did change the reality of life for much of Latin America and the sub-continent, and he is widely credited with saving over 245 million people.  Kinda of hard to match that.

The industrialization of food production and the creation of the terminator seed has reversed many of Borlaug’s advances.  Yet, thanks to him, we know such advances are possible, and know that we already have the necessary building blocks to feed the world.  Now we just need the political will.

Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in relieving hunger across the world.  He died Saturday at the age of 95.

Both China and several Middle Eastern countries have started a dangerous food security policy of buying up farmland in Africa to produce food to be shipped back to their own people instead of buying food from food insecure and economically impoverished countries.  Now the practice of buying farmland has spread to Pakistan:

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to lease an area of farmland nearly twice the size of Hong Kong in a bid to ensure food security, an official from Pakistan’s ministry of agriculture said on Tuesday. Gulf Arab states, heavily reliant on food imports and spurred on by a spike in prices of basic commodities, have raced to buy farmland in developing nations to guarantee supplies.

Over the past few weeks the Saudi government has been in talks with us to lease 500,000 acres (202,400 hectares) of farmland and we are currently in the process of locating which land we could give them, Tauqir Ahmad Faiq, regional secretary at the ministry of agriculture, said in an interview. In April, Pakistan said it would offer foreign investors one million acres of farmland for lease or sale and deploy special security forces to protect it. The land we will provide Saudi Arabia will be divided among the four provinces and they will be using it to grow a variety of produce such as wheat, fruits and vegetables, Faiq said by telephone from Lahore.

Pakistan already has serious problems feeding their population as it is:

Pakistan is a low-income, food-deficit country with a predominantly rural population. Recent economic performance has been strong despite hardship due to increasing oil prices and a devastating earthquake in the country’s north in October 2005. Real GDP growth in 2005-2006 stood at 6.6 percent.

The population is estimated at 141.5 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent. Despite the improved economic picture almost 85 percent of the population live on a marginal income of less than US$ 2 per day. One third of the population lives on even less below the poverty line, and do not have the means to provide for a healthy life.

Pakistan is a country of over 176 million people attempting to eek out a living on a plot of land barely twice the size of California.  Of that land, only 24% is arable. This is not a recipe for sustainability.

Senator Edward Kennedy passed away early this morning.  It is hard to cover the breadth of issues that he was a leader on.  Obviously health care and universal coverage were incredibly important to him, as were immigration and civil rights. As was feeding the hungry:

He several times spearheaded legislation to raise the minimum wage and, in the early 1970s, wrote the law creating Meals on Wheels, which delivers meals to seniors. He was influential in reforming immigration laws and in expanding Head Start programs.

Massive GM FAIL in South Africa. But GM will feed the world, right? Thanks, Monsanto!

Except when it doesn’t.  Corn in Africa with no seed (ie kernels) isn’t going to feed a whole lot of people.

I think its great that so many farmers markets now accept food stamps.  However, the story does bring up a bigger question - why the heck does the set up for accepting food stamps cost so much?  $1100 for the machine is $1050 too much.  Way not OK.

You just can’t keep the rich man down.  Today is the opening of J&G Steakhouse in Washington, DC.  Being that DC has about 6,945 steakhouses already in the city limits, it was clear that what this town really needs is 6,946 steakhouses. J&G is being opened by Jean-Georges Vongerichten of Manhattan restaurant fame. Along with the crystalized wasabi and the truffle vinagrette that will grace the menu, Jean-Gorges takes opulence to a new level - the champagne-fried onion ring.

photo courtesy of flickr user ulterior epicure

As the country nears 10% unemployment, one would think that a modicum of restraint may be appropriate. Then again, maybe a pineapple carved table-side will cure what ails you. </snark>

Uganda’s finance minister has presented the country’s budget for the coming year, and the principles behind it sound extremely promising.  The financial plan has an agriculture first focus, with supporting roles for irrigation, transportation and energy. This is makes sense for a number of reasons.  Uganda is still incredibly poor even 30 years after the mass destruction caused by Idid Amin.  About half the population lives in poverty, defined by the UN as living on less than $1.25 per day. However their land is very fertile, particularly in the south which is bordered by Lake Victoria which provides consistent rainfall and moderated tempatures.  Approximately 80% of the workforce is in agriculture already. The average age in Uganda is an astonishing 15 years.  And the AIDS rate has dropped from 18.5% to 5% in the past 15 years. All these factors points to a strong, resurgent workforce in the coming years.

And now Uganda has a plan.

The government wants Uganda to become the region’s food basket and to use its location to develop as a regional trading hub. Simply stated, economic policy initiatives will aim to increase agricultural production and productivity, increase agro-processing and value added, and make the investments in infrastructure and human resources to bring this about.

This is a country on the cusp of joining the developing world.  One of the most challenging geographical elements of Uganda has been that it is a landlocked country, meaning that it too often has been dependent on its unreliable neighbors in order to ship exports internationally. However, if Uganda can position itself to become the new bread basket of central Africa, it would benefit from the needy neighbors all around them. Additionally, Uganda has strong trading partners in Europe for their coffee trade that has the potential to expand into other crops. The Economists summarizes the agricultural aspects of the plan:

Agricultural production and value added. Pests and diseases, lack of inputs and technology, the weather and inadequate extension services have been identified as the biggest constraints. To address these problems, the government will provide various vaccinations for cattle and poultry; 25 new crop varieties will be introduced; and 20m disease-resistant coffee seedlings and 4,000 tons of cotton seeds will be made available. Drought is to be tackled by the construction of dams and piped storage facilities. Commercial farming and agro-processing will benefit from new agricultural credits worth NUSh30bn (US$14.3m) from the government, with matching funds from financial institutions, including commercial banks, for on-lending. Additionally, the Uganda Development Bank will provide credits worth US$7m for agricultural lending, and the Islamic Development Bank has earmarked US$100m for water development.

The vaccinations is great news, along with the 25 new crop varieties.  A key component to economical stability and sustainability is crop diversification., that way when one crop goes bad, it doesn’t take down the entire country with it. The focus on coffee seedlings and cotton seeds is a little disturbing as these are cash crops meant for Europe, however it is unreasonable to expect a country to completely switch gears from one year to the next.

The “lack of inputs and technology” is a cause for concern, primarily because these are code words for the elements of agriculture that comprise the yoke that the developed world places over the 3rd world.  We will have to wait and see how much of the plan hinges on Monsanto seeds and petroleum based fertilizers shipped in from donor states.

The long awaited Aston and Demi hungry campaign has now been unveiled.  The mystery organization willing to give up to $10 million turns out to be Kellogg who is going to donate a full day’s worth of their cereal production.The twittering duo have put together a video on hunger and have been promoting it heavily on twitter. With Ashton’s 2 million followers they have a huge distribution channel to get the video out there. The concept is a little tired, with wil.i.am type slicing, and the final message “Some people can’t.” is a little awkward, but hey its all for a good cause, right?

End US Hunger - Watch more Funny Videos

The project is run by Feeding America.

Feed America distributed $50 million in grants last year and over 57.8 pounds of food per person in poverty.  With a budget of over $600 million, Feeding America is nothing to sneeze at. Which is great.  The hard thing to swallow if that their major donors include Cargill, Kraft, Bank of America, ConAgra, Campbell’s, Kroger, and WalMart. Not exactly the best company to keep.

There is the inclination to disregard where the money comes from, and focus on all the good the organization does, and surely there is a lot of that going on.  But I wonder what the quality of the food is that Feeding America is sending out poor. But consider this, the $10 million that Kellogg is going to donate is in the form of their cereals.  Cereals like Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes which are notoriously high in sugar.  Even the iconic Rice Krispies was sued for exaggerating the product’s healthiness.

All of this circles back to the question: are we doing more harm than good when we shovel fat, sugar, and salt at those who suffer from hunger?

So far over 6.2 million acres of African land have been bought up from foreign investors in Asia and the Middle East. Clearly, this is just new capitalism-based form of colonialism and is robbing natives of one of the few assets they have - land. For those of us concerned about forging a sustainable solution in Africa, this is not a good development.  What is worse is these activities have the tacit approval of the UN.

Now, several international players are weighing in, calling for a code of conduct to govern these land deals. Marilou Uy, sector director for the World Bank’s Africa Financial and Private Sector Development Department,had this to say:

“It is quite apparent that the upsurge in interest, especially among foreign investors and large scale enterprises in land acquisition might need a code of conduct,” she said.

“This code of conduct might need to bring a clear understanding on a wide range of matters from land policy, social development…governance and transparency.”

It’s unclear what these Code of Conducts would look like, how they would be structured, or if they would have the strength of law behind them.  Perhaps there could be requirements on the percentage of workforce that must be local.  They could also cut the leases down to a more reasonable 5-10 years as opposed to 99.  There are number of issues that would need to be addressed.  Regardless, with out strict restrictions, these land deals really are naked land grabs.  And will ultimately make poor Africans even poorer, as Kofi Annan’s new group points out:

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, said last week governments needed to consult widely, especially with small farmers, before signing deals that may increase poverty.

Now this is how you feed the world.  Congrats to Gebisa Ejeta, who has actually fed millions of hungry people.

Most people don’t report food-bourne illnesses.  Know the symptoms:

Noroviruses are a group of related viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis, generally characterized by diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Salmonella are bacteria that can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), vomiting, nausea, fever, and abdominal cramps.

I admit, Chipotle is pretty damn tasty.  Too bad even their veggie burrito solidifies into a brick in my tummy.

Raw food is coming to Omaha.  Love the name.

Zimbabwe children are trading sex for food.  So wrong and so sad.

Costco say it will ’study’ accepting food stamps at 2 of their stores.  What exactly is there to study?  Its just the right thing to do, to increase access for poor people.  Meanwhile farmers markets are jumping at the chance to do a 2 for 1 deal on food stamps.  Very cool program.

So I naturally think this is the most awesome idea for a fundraiser ever:

On Wednesday comes part two, when family, corporate and community teams compete in the Shopping Cart Derby, a race that sends teams dashing through the local Grocery Outlet, often in costume, to buy food for the Food Share.

Taylor provides the cash for each team’s first shopping cart and a list of food requested by the Food Share. Teams sponsor a second cart for $50, $100 or $150 and fill it from a second list. When the carts are full, the teams race to the Food Share.

An 11 yr old came up with the concept.  A smart politican would get this kid on their fundraising team, stat.