Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator for Indiana

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following statement today at the roll-out of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Food Security Task Force.

I thank CSIS and my friend John Hamre for hosting this event. I join in congratulating Stephen Morrison, Johanna Nesseth, and the entire CSIS Task Force for an outstanding report. This important study reflects the work of numerous contributors with expertise in the many fields that affect global food security. It is also a pleasure to again join with my friend and Foreign Relations Committee Colleague, Senator Casey, as we attempt to strengthen our own basis for advancing ideas that could have a positive impact on the global food situation.

As we are all aware, the current food crisis owes its existence to a complex web of factors that have come together at the same moment. The situation threatens to not just increase hunger, but to undo many of the development and health gains that have been achieved over the last decade. Our response must be as multifaceted as the cause.

By 2015, it is predicted that the world will hold more than 7 billion people, with increasing stress on land, water, and energy supplies. In the days of Malthus, people worried that food production would not keep pace with a growing population. But Malthus was wrong. Just as he and his contemporaries did not see the role that technology and innovation would play to overcome his dire predictions, today we must not allow an aversion to modern agricultural technology to doom a part of the world’s population to chronic hunger and poverty.

Conventional biotechnology and sustainable farming techniques have not been disseminated globally. Many regions missed the benefits of the Green Revolution. Since then, the level of investment devoted to raising agricultural productivity in the developing world has declined markedly. In some parts of the world, farmers are trying to feed their families with technology that would not seem out of place in biblical times.

This represents a failure of both donor and host governments to focus development work in agriculture and in rural environments. Parts of the world may be starved for food, but they are also “starved for science,” as a fellow Hoosier, Robert Paarlberg has observed in his recent book of that title. Overcoming the science deficiency requires refocused attention on increasing investments in agricultural productivity through better seeds and fertilizers, improved and sustainable farming techniques, and farmer access to small loans and extension support.

Twenty-three countries are taking advantage of the most advanced technology – that is – genetically modified crops. Nearly all of them are food exporters. Not surprisingly, the nearly 40 countries that are threatened by the recent spikes in food prices and by increases in the number of undernourished are not on this list.

GM technology has provided significant farm yield increases and pesticide use decreases. Yet since 2000, many countries with chronic food insecurity have rejected or limited the import of genetically modified foodstuffs, including food aid. These countries include Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Sudan, Namibia, and Benin, among others. The fear of GM crops has been most prevalent in Europe. Many developing countries, especially in Africa, worry that if they adopt GM crops, they will not be able to export to Europe. The governments and people of Europe must understand that their opposition to safe GM technology contributes to hunger in Africa.

Major food producing countries have more in common than just technology. They also have good agriculture schools that produce scientists and business entrepreneurs, and extension services that disseminate information to small farmers. Nations experiencing food insecurity generally lack investments in human capital that are necessary to broaden and sustain growth in food production.

The U.S. Land-Grant College system has provided this component to American agriculture. I have recommended that a similar structure be established globally. Such a networked system of agriculture schools can provide advancements in technology and facilitate its transfer between nations. It can also provide the human capital that is necessary for sustainable development. Knowledgeable farmers and ambitious scientists will be at the core of any successful effort to meet global food needs in the face of rising populations, climate change, and energy scarcity.

As the report before us today notes, food and energy security must be goals we pursue simultaneously. One does not need to detract from the other. Indeed, overcoming energy scarcity is one of the key components to ensuring an affordable and transportable global food supply. Abandoning biofuels ultimately would reduce the planet’s ability to feed itself. The science that has gotten us to this point will also take us beyond the use of food crops for biofuels. Major progress can be made in accelerating advanced biofuels derived from agriculture, forest, and municipal waste, and from special energy crops like switchgrass.

When crises occur, we can view them as challenges or opportunities. I choose to see the food crisis as an opportunity for the United States to demonstrate its humanitarian and technological leadership. Our country has always stood for, and been motivated by, big ideas – from the founding of the Republic on the basis of freedom; to the creation of a diverse, continental nation; to putting a man on the moon. One of today’s big ideas should be the eradication of hunger worldwide. We can bring America’s dedication to science, innovation, technology, and education to bear on expanding the global food supply and helping others feed themselves. It is in our own interest to lead the world in developing and disseminating innovative solutions to ensure that food scarcity does not hold back human potential.

Once again, I thank CSIS for its leadership in establishing this Task Force. I appreciate the opportunity to put forward ideas for the final report. I look forward to working with Senator Casey and all of you to advance proposals that can result in greater food security.

# # #