Global Food Security Research Agenda: Opportunities for U.S. Universities J. Vern Long, PhD USAID/Bureau for Food Security August 1, 2016

One of the best fields for new college graduates? Agriculture. NEARLY 60,000 HIGH-SKILLED AGRICULTURE JOB OPENINGS EXPECTED ANNUALLY IN U.S., YET ONLY 35,000 GRADUATES AVAILABLE TO FILL THEM USDA/NIFA & Purdue University May

Sadler, M The Role of Resilient Supply Chains in the Face of Climate Change

rea South AsiaSub-Saharan Africa Yield Area Intensification vs. Extensification

Country-led Focus on Women and Gender Integrate Nutrition and Agriculture Support Sustainable Intensification Increase Economic Resilience Strengthen Capacity of Local Institutions M&E to support real-time learning Impact analysis to build a strong evidence base New Ways of Doing Business under Feed the Future

1.Help farmers produce more 2.Help farmers get more food to market 3.Support Research & Development to improve smallholder agriculture in a changing climate 4.Strengthen Regional Trade 5.Create a better Policy Environment 1.Improve Access to Nutritious Food and Nutrition Services What Does Feed the Future Do?

19 Focus Countries

Going forward…. Feed the Future initiative – Global Food Security Act signed July 20, 2016 – US Gov’t commitment to Global Food Security What’s next? – USAID programs continue – New research RFAs (more later)

Clear Role for U.S. Universities Next generation agriculture professionals – Beyond traditional courses Monitoring & Evaluation courses – Humanities – history, national literatures Research – More food yet less water, more variable conditions – Beyond biophysical research Economic/market analyses, consumer demand

U.S. Universities’ Unique Role Nexus for partnership – International networks Former students, long-term collaborations – Private sector Commodity associations Trade/export councils These relationships help orient research to demand.

Linking farmers to markets in Haiti

Basic Translation Utility Applied NSF USDA, DOE USAID

Heat Tolerant Maize in South Asia – CIMMYT, Purdue, NARS from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Pioneer and 10 other seed companies Commercial cultivarHTMA products Heat tolerant hybrids released: 17 hybrids that outperform the best commercial varieties in yield licensed to partners for scale out in targeted geographies/market. Achieved within 3 years! Unanticipated outcome: some varieties preferred by women farmers. Pipeline of breeding materials: >700 heat tolerant hybrids under testing Using genomic tools and approaches to identify gene combinations that will thrive under heat and other stressful environments. Successful public-private partnership Eleven private company partners Private sector investment increased from $430,000 to $2.3 million.

Crop yields on many soil types are unresponsive to current GoE ‘one size fits all’ recommendations Africa RISING & EIAR scientists identified soil-specific best fertilizer blends and rates for wheat, teff, barley, maize and pulses in target zones. New recommendations boost yields 2-3 times, even in previously ‘non-responsive’ soils; may include N-P-K plus Sulphur, Zinc, Boron 100s of on-farm trials across 70+ agricultural districts Director General of EIAR, working with AR, to lead taskforce to develop a Decision Support Tool for Appropriate Fertilizer Recommendations to support fertilizer blending plants. Taskforce will mainstream recommendations as ‘best practices’ through Gov. of Ethiopia The five fertilizer plants will serve over 3 million producers. USAID/ET, World Bank, ATA & GoE collaborate to build 5 fertilizer blending plants and warehouses serving millions of farmers in major production zones New Fertilizer Blending Facility in Ethiopia

USAID/W USAID/Ethiopia and USAID/India Joint research program: Chickpea Innovation Lab Upstream research for farmer success: Diversify gene pool for chickpea breeding using wild relatives– heat and drought tolerant chickpeas. Policy Triumph: Deposited 270 new wild chickpea lines from Turkey into the multilateral germplasm system of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. Partnership: Leveraged $8M in external funds Australian & Canadian industry groups, National Science Foundation, Global Crop Diversity Trust, National Academy of Science 15

Research Program Updates USAID research investments – New RFAs launch in early 2017 Legumes & Peanuts – New Research Programs (awarded 2018) Summer/Early Fall 2017 RFA topics released Likely RFA released ~ Jan 2018

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