A world-leading food and sustainability expert will reveal the inner workings of the global food system and what needs to be done to ensure the world doesn’t go hungry when he speaks at the University of Sydney this week. Dr Per Pinstrup-Andersen is an agricultural economist and a professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University in the US. He has instigated some of the most substantial international food initiatives of the past two decades.
He will present a Sydney Ideas public lecture on Thursday 3 June, 2010 as part of the University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Centenary Celebrations.
In his lecture titled “Where is the global food system headed?”, the World Food Prize laureate will assess the current status of food security internationally and the concrete policies Governments need to adopt to rebalance international food security.
“Sustainable food security for all can be achieved but only if appropriate policies and institutions are pursued,” says Dr Pinstrup-Andersen. “This will require real changes in national and international priorities and not just another set of summits and development goals.”
Dr Pinstrup-Andersen is a vocal advocate of increased research into sustainable food production – including the use of crops developed through genetic engineering – in order to improve the lives of the world’s poorest, particularly in rural areas.
“If we can develop drought-tolerant material that small farmers can plant in their environment, they can produce something the next time [a] drought comes around,” Dr Pinstrup-Andersen has said. “If you are the woman who is trying to feed her kids and a drought hits, you want a solution to the problem – whether it’s genetically modified or otherwise is of less importance.”
Dr Pinstrup-Andersen argues using science to increase productivity per unit of land will not only reduce hunger in rural areas but will also decrease the need to clear large amounts of land for agriculture, effectively reducing deforestation worldwide.
Dr Pinstrup-Andersen is the HE Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy and Professor of Applied Economics at Cornell University. Previously, he was director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington where he led the organisation to become the leading think-tank on hunger issues. Here, he took on numerous groundbreaking research projects including breeding staple crops for higher nutrition and improving the effectiveness of food-for-education efforts.
In 1993, he launched the 2020 Vision initiative, alerting the world to the potential food crisis of this century and engaged policy makers to shift priorities leading to projects that have reduced global poverty and improved the lives of some of the world’s poorest.
He has been described as “one of the most influential economists and policy makers today” by 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and is an acclaimed author – his 2001 book Seeds of Contention has been published in five languages. He holds several honorary doctorates and professorships from universities worldwide.
