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1. Encouraging Farmer Adoption of Regenerative Agriculture Practices in the United States

Author:
Kelly Wilson, Stephanie Mercier, and Rob Myers
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
Regenerative agriculture can help our food and agricultural systems become more resilient. Farmers and ranchers are facing escalating challenges from climate change as they confront the consistent need to maintain high levels of productivity. Modern farming practices have enabled farmers to increase per acre production substantially over the last several decades, but these practices can also contribute to the depletion of the quantity and quality of natural resources (such as soil and water). There is a potential solution: regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is an emerging approach to farming that aims to increase farm resiliency by improving soil health, restoring natural resources, and increasing biodiversity through integrated farming practices. It can play a key role in helping farmers develop more resilient production systems and mitigate the challenges they face, all while contributing to the goals of companies supporting these practices, including goals of achieving carbon neutrality and sustainable supply chains. Regenerative agriculture does, however, face barriers that impede its adoption, namely financial concerns, access to necessary materials, equipment, and infrastructure, knowledge and education, time, and land tenure. Through public and private programs aimed at supporting farmers' adoption of regenerative agricultural practices, it is possible to reduce barriers to implementation and build farmer capacities, ultimately championing a regenerative future for agriculture.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Food, Sustainability, Resilience, and Farming
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

2. The Case for Inclusive Agricultural Development

Author:
Benjamin Allen, Jacqueline Ashby, John Coonrod, and Wawira Njiru
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
Amid shifts towards inclusive agricultural development, the Center for Global Food and Agriculture offers policy recommendations for further US government action. Reflecting both the development consensus and the challenges of transformational reform, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced an ambitious new focus on inclusive development for the agency in 2021. Her announcement followed the publication of a draft policy on local capacity development, which provides a framework for shifting overall organizational approaches to development. The policy helps establish an agencywide understanding of what locally led development means and a unified system for building on local strengths to achieve local goals. Nevertheless, there are substantial and legitimate reasons why inclusive development assistance remains elusive. Recent research from the Brookings Institution provides an excellent summary of the legal and regulatory impediments, including budgetary rigidity, risk mitigation, and the limits of local organizational capacity.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Agriculture, Food, and International Development
Political Geography:
Africa, North America, and United States of America

3. US Commitments in Nutrition and Health for a Better Future

Author:
Gloria Dabek, Catherine Bertini, Dan Glickman, and Samanta Dunford
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
The United States has made big pledges for global nutrition. Our white paper offers recommendations to turn commitments into action. Approximately 768 million people faced hunger in 2020, over 100 million more than 2019, and the number of those without sufficient nutrients is even higher. In the United States, diet-related disease accounted for over half of all deaths in 2018. Globally, approximately 45 percent of the deaths of children younger than five are related to undernutrition. For decades, the United States has also experienced a rise in chronic diet-related diseases like diabetes, with disproportionate effects seen in communities of color. And as the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the link between nutrition and both risk and long-term consequences of pathogen infection, urgency to shift governmental nutrition approaches has never been higher. To strengthen domestic and global nutrition, the United States should catalyze critical change, starting with commitments made at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and additional funded programs, extending further to reach a wider subset of all people suffering from nutrition- and hunger-related diseases. This white paper analyzes primary nutrition challenges, particularly issues of health, access, and education, and recommends policy actions that community, federal, private, and academic institutions can take domestically and globally to progress toward a well-nourished future.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Food, and Global Health
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

4. From Climate Pledges to Transformative Action

Author:
Julia Whiting and Ertharin Cousin
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
Can the United States deliver on its food systems and climate commitments? We offer recommendations to protect the planet and feed the world. The momentous 2021 global convenings on food, climate change, and nutrition—the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), and the Nutrition for Growth Summit—each prompted new initiatives and funding commitments. But promises alone, no matter how bold or big, are not enough to transform the global food system, end hunger, and prevent climate catastrophe. Acknowledging the unprecedented potential of recent commitments and international attention given to food systems and climate change, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs convened an expert roundtable with representatives from the private, public, academic, and nonprofit sectors to move beyond abstract goals to identify concrete actionable steps for US agrifood stakeholders. This paper outlines three key areas for action that were identified through the roundtable and offers recommendations to the private sector, donor community, civil society, academia, and government.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, and Food
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

5. Combating Global Hunger as an American Foreign Policy Priority

Author:
Gloria Dabek and Emily Sullivan
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
While not traditionally prioritized as a tool of foreign policy, combatting world hunger has high bipartisan support from the American public. Global hunger can often get lost in American foreign policy discussions amid concerns about military engagements, trade relationships, and international cooperation and competition. However, the 2021 Chicago Council Survey found that a majority of Americans believe that combating global hunger should be of some importance to US foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Agriculture, Food, Public Opinion, and Hunger
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

6. Global Food Security Act Reauthorization: New and Lingering Challenges

Author:
Gloria Dabek
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
Amid new challenges to global food security, the Center for Global Food and Agriculture analyzes necessary changes to the Global Food Security Act Reauthorization. The Global Food Security Act (GFSA) authorizes the Feed the Future Initiative (FTF), the US government’s premier effort to address the root causes of hunger and poverty in lower- and middle-income countries. The GFSA must recognize how the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change wreak havoc on global food security efforts.
Topic:
Agriculture, Poverty, Food, Hunger, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and Global Focus

7. Centering Global Food Security for Global Prosperity

Author:
Catherine Bertini and Ertharin Cousin
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
The new Biden Administration will face global crises on multiple fronts. COVID-19, coupled with conflict and escalating climate disasters, is leading to one of the most disastrous humanitarian and hunger crises in the last century. In the past decade, previous Administrations have demonstrated the value and impact of food security and nutrition security programs for alleviating hunger and malnutrition and for reducing the threat of conflict and governmental instability. As a result of targeted and thoughtful assistance, there are 23.4 million more people today who live above the poverty line and 3.4 million more children are free from stunting. More than 5 million families now live free from hunger and billions of dollars in agricultural sales have been generated. The Biden Administration has the opportunity to build on a strong foundation of work. To strengthen this programming in the next decade, key considerations should include: Creating a more resilient and healthful food system that is capable of absorbing shocks and stressors. Systems thinking—especially the integration of food, nutrition, health, climate, and agriculture—can drive sustainable outcomes. Building inclusive partnerships from the beginning to create sustainable and resilient communities. Investing in agricultural economies beyond US borders should be understood as an investment in critical infrastructure that stretches back to our own heartland.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Food, Hunger, and Nutrition
Political Geography:
North America and Global Focus

8. Renewing International Extension to Equip Farmers for a Changing Climate

Author:
Gloria Dabek
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
The climate crisis necessitates a new extension agenda that prioritizes farmer needs and preferences and promotes climate resilience and adaptation. US policy should reflect this new extension agenda to ensure farmers have the tools to succeed in providing for themselves, and ultimately, feeding the world. Climate change is causing more extreme weather events such as flooding, droughts, and heatwaves. Farmers are seeking to quickly adapt to a crisis that is worsening with time. Tools that were previously used by farmers, however, may no longer be effective to combat changing conditions. Agricultural extension plays an equally critical role in delivering those findings and innovations to farmers, ensuring they have the best information and tools available for success. The climate crisis requires a global response, and it is now more urgent than ever to equip farmers worldwide to address these challenges. The United States has a long history in international agricultural extension with mixed results, as some initially successful efforts did not endure. With our strong R&D and extension infrastructure, the United States has the opportunity to reevaluate and bolster its international extension efforts and provide global leadership to more effectively deliver on taxpayer dollars and provide smallholder farmers the assistance they need. Farmers require accurate and context-appropriate innovations and knowledge to address climate challenges and provide food-secure futures for themselves, their communities, and the world. A revised extension agenda must account for the abundant possibilities provided by information and communications technology (ICT) as well as ensure new innovations and knowledge are sustainable environmentally, financially, and locally. While this brief is not intended as a comprehensive review, it examines current US international agricultural extension efforts, identifies gaps, examines best practices, and proposes policy recommendations for a new extension agenda.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, and Food
Political Geography:
North America and Global Focus

9. Household Food Waste Developments: A Comparison of Progress in the European Union and the United States

Author:
Sara Zaat
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
The importance of addressing worldwide food waste in terms of combatingclimate change andalleviating food insecurity should not be overlooked(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations[FAO],2011; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations[FAO],2013). According to the FAO, around one-third of certainfood in the worldgoes unconsumedevery year, resulting in a loss of resources, including greenhouse gases (GHGs)(FAO, 2011; FAO, 2013). Considering the world will likely haveoverninebillion people by 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2019), wasting good food is an increasingly egregious act; accordingly, theSustainable Development Goals ofthe United Nations include responsibly using food (United Nations, n.d.). One of the United Nations’ specific goals for 2030 is to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” (United Nations, n.d., Goal 12 targets section, para. 3).It is especially important to addresshouseholdfood waste in higher-income countries, where consumers are often a largecontributor (FAO, 2011).Which of suchcountries can lead efforts to addressthis harmful, household-level consumer food waste and support under-resourced communities? This Paper will discusssome ofthefood waste research, interventions, and reduction resolutionsin the United States (US) and in countries in the European Union (EU)to better understandfood waste in these countries.
Topic:
Development, Food, European Union, Waste, and Household
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and United States of America

10. Safety First: Serving Food and Protecting People During Covid-19

Author:
Food and Society Program
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
As cities and states prepare to re-open, restaurants and hotels face a new challenge – ensuring safe working and dining environments for employees and customers. Safety First: Serving Food and Protecting People During Covid-19 will help them do just that.
Topic:
Food, Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Customer Service
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America