Feed the Future: Global Hunger and Food Security Research Strategy

Feed the Future (FTF) is the President’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative with the overarching goal of sustainably reducing global poverty and hunger.  Addressing the challenge of providing sufficient and nutritious food to the world’s growing population, while conserving the environment and helping farmers adapt to the impacts of climate change, will require unprecedented increases in agricultural production and productivity in the next 40 years. USAID, in collaboration with USDA, recently developed a new Research Strategy to support the FTF Initiative with a focus on three central themes: 1) expanding the productivity frontier; 2) transforming key agricultural systems; and 3) enhancing food safety and nutrition. Gender, climate change, and environmental sustainability are issues to be addressed across the three research themes. Efforts under the first theme, advancing the productivity frontier, include investments in crop improvement, animal genomics and vaccine development, and policies to enhance technology adoption and dissemination. Genomics approaches, biotechnology tools and other advanced molecular methods underpin investments in the development of new varieties and breeds to counteract abiotic stresses such as heat and drought and to address emerging diseases. The research agenda relies on robust partnerships formed across U.S. agencies and with partner country universities, the private sector, CGIAR centers, national agricultural research institutes, and NGOs.  This presentation will outline the new FTF Research Strategy and its implementation, highlight where genomics and other advanced molecular tools can contribute to addressing global food security and stimulate discussion on how research partners can contribute to advancing the research agenda.