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Agriculture official urges innovation to address food security, waste

Agriculture official urges innovation to address food security, waste Writer: Olivia McClure at 225-578-3262 or omcclure@agcenter.lsu.edu BATON ROUGE, La. – The world is facing an “existential threat” to nutritional security, a problem that will only become worse as the global population increases, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said at a seminar at the LSU AgCenter on April 24. Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, said scientists in agriculture, nutrition and related fields must pursue solutions to problems such as hunger, obesity and constraints on the availability of nutritious foods. “If we don’t do anything about it now, it’s going to get a lot worse in 2050,” he warned, referring to the year many scientists cite in academic papers when the global population is predicted to surpass 9 billion people and prompt soaring demand for food and fiber. The world population is already about 7.3 billion people, he said, and many people die from malnutrition. But incomes are rising in countries like China and India, and people there are consuming more food along with other goods and services, such as cars and technological devices. “All of that’s exacerbating this situation,” he said, pointing in particular to the environmental impact. Universities have already made great strides in agricultural efficiency by finding ways to increase yields and control pests, and Ramaswamy said it is critical that they continue that progress. He urged AgCenter personnel attending the seminar to engage with the public by talking about their research and the importance of agriculture. “Humans matter,” he said, adding that average people need to understand how they may be affected by these challenges — by having either not enough food or food that is not nutritious — if nothing is done. NIFA has set a goal of reducing the footprint of American agriculture in terms of water usage, greenhouse gas production and similar factors by at least 50 percent in the next 15 to 20 years. “It really requires new approaches and new thinking,” Ramaswamy said. Technologies such as data-collecting sensors and drones can help improve the profitability and efficiency of farmers, he said. Scientists should consider how their areas of expertise can fit into the larger picture. Ramaswamy suggested they work with teams of scientists from different fields — and perhaps even different countries — to solve multi-faceted problems in agriculture. In the U.S., one key area in need of improvement is food waste, Ramaswamy said. Americans not only consume too much food, which is largely responsible for the country’s obesity epidemic and skyrocketing health care costs, but they also throw away too much food. Between one-third and one-half of America’s food — worth about $120 billion annually — is wasted after it leaves the table, especially in restaurants, Ramaswamy said. Wasting food also means wasting the increasingly scarce water, labor and energy resources used to produce it, he said. “That’s low-hanging fruit we need to address” before tackling larger challenges, he said.