World Food Day and Biodiversity for Food Security

October 15, 2004

Thanks, Melvin. I am pleased to be here this morning to help celebrate World Food Day.

NRCS and ERS are proud to sponsor this event. I’d like to thank Gail Roane of our International Programs Division for all her hard work in helping organize today’s seminar.

We have asked three of our experts to talk on various aspects of food security:
• Hari Eswaran (Ha-ri Es-war-en), NRCS National Leader World Soil Resources,
• Shahla Shapouri (Sha-la Sha-poor-a), an economist with the Economic Research Service, and
• Keith Wiebe (Wee-bee), who’s an economist and the Deputy Director for the Resources Economics Division of the Economic Research Service to help celebrate World Food Day.

World Food Day is sponsored by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. This year’s theme is Biodiversity for Food Security.

A little over a year ago, I spoke on the topic of food security to Department of State’s Senior Seminar. I told the future executives why conservation is important. Here is the short version: without conservation, the land ceases to be productive; when the land ceases to be productive, people starve. End of story.

I know the group I spoke to expected a longer explanation. And, of course, I did elaborate on how conservation is tied to world and American history. I know this is a complex issue, but in its simplest form, agricultural productivity allows for division of labor and the growth of a society.

The longevity of the society is connected to sustaining this productivity.
Or as NRCS founding father Hugh Hammond Bennett put it, “... soil conservation is not just an incidental bit of the mechanics of farming; it becomes part and parcel of the whole business of making a living from the land, and is the only way by which we may have permanently productive land for a permanent agriculture to support a permanent nation. “Sustaining productivity, or sustainable agriculture, is a corner stone to food security, just as biodiversity is a key element of sustainable agriculture.
But taking it back one step further, soil and water conservation is really the basic element of biodiversity – in other words, the building block of biodiversity and ultimately the basis for all food security strategies.

As Hari gives us a little more detailed look at the historical changes in the land and their impact on food security…and Shahla takes a closer look at food security in developing nations…and Keith takes up the subject of food security from a global perspective – I think it would be interesting for us to think about our soil and water conservation “building blocks” in the context of what our speakers say.

I hope that all of you don’t walk away after this seminar over and say to yourselves “another World Food Day come and gone.” I hope you will want to contribute something, to make a difference, whether it’s on the job like for many of here in agriculture or somewhere else.

Fortunately FAO has some excellent outreach activities to keep individuals all around the world interested and involved in food security.

Today, here at USDA we’ll be televising the twenty-first annual World Food Video Conference. This year’s special guest is Doctor Werner Kiene (Verner Kee-Na)representative to the Bretton Woods Institutions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

This program will be on USDA LAN channels 6 and 8 between Noon and three p.m..

This year, the FAO is also asking churches around the World to take part in a Bread for the World Sunday. Churches can participate anytime between now and Thanksgiving. I hope you will take an active part in your church’s observance of Bread for the World Sunday.

Events like these are important to underscore awareness of issues like
• soil and water conservation,
• food security,
and
• biodiversity.

I think they bring “life” to what otherwise might be thought of as just another good cause.

Again I’d like to thank everyone here today for their participation either as
• a speaker,
• organizer,
or
• concerned individual.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and enthusiasm for
World Food Day and the effort to guarantee food security to people all around the world.

Thank you.