Feed the Future Research Forum: Engaging the Research Community

For Immediate Release

Friday, June 17, 2011
USAID Press Office
202-712-4320

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Almost one billion people—one sixth of the world's population— suffer from chronic hunger. Each year, more than 3.5 million children die from under nutrition. Hunger robs the poor of a healthy and productive life and stunts the mental and physical development of the next generation. Reducing chronic hunger is essential to the sustainable development of individuals, communities and nations. Through Feed the Future, the U.S. global hunger and food security initiative, the U.S. Government is helping countries transform their own agricultural sectors and regional trading systems to sustainably feed their people. Innovative research is essential to meet this challenge.

During the three-day Research Forum, more than 300 stakeholders from the United States and international research communities—government, civil society and industry, with a broad range of expertise related to agriculture, food systems, social sciences, business, environment, human nutrition, food safety, policy, and other related fields—will come together to discuss the Feed the Future research strategy. Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is organizing the forum in collaboration with the Board for International Food and Agriculture (BIFAD), in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Among the forum goals are to identify key challenges and researchable approaches that support the overall goal of Feed the Future within the three themes laid out in the Feed the Future research strategy: advancing the productivity frontier, transforming production systems, and enhancing nutrition and food safety. Forum organizers hope to explore opportunities for increasing the impacts of research through human and institutional capacity development, innovative partnerships, a “whole of government” approach, and engagement of the private sector.

What:

Feed the Future Research Forum: Engaging the Research Community.
When:

June 21-23, 2011
Where:

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW
Washington, DC 20001 (between 7th and 9th Streets)
Who:

Rajiv Shah, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Catherine Woteki, Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National Security Council

Brady Deaton, Chancellor, University of Missouri, and Chair, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD)

Peter McPherson, President, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and former Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Monty Jones, Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and 2004 World Food Prize Laureate

Jo Luck, President, Heifer International, and 2010 World Food Prize Laureate

Gebisa Ejeta, Distinguished Professor of Agronomy, Purdue University, and 2009 World Food Prize Laureate

For media credentials, contact Paul Hassen at APLU phassen@aplu.org and for information about the forum, visit www.aplu.org.

To arrange interviews with USAID Administrator Shah, please contact Natasha Jackson njackson@usaid.gov.

For more information about USAID, please visit www.usaid.gov. Follow the forum on USAID tweeterhttp://twitter.com/usaid #FeedtheFuture.