Food Security

Food Security

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Dr. David Songstad’s education in plant biotechnology and agronomy led to a career working for both Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred/DuPont, where he led research teams that developed the enabling technologies leading to the first commercial transgenic corn. He has more than 40 journal publications and 5 issued patents. He has also edited books on biofuels and sustainable agriculture. Dr. Songstad was elected President for 2013-2014 at the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. Songstad currently serves Cibus as Director of Research/Cell Biology. “From a food security standpoint, if you go back to 2008 when we saw the price of food go up and, frankly, the food price index pretty much mirrors the price of oil back in 2008. You can almost overlay those two graphs. When the price of oil started coming down, the food price index started coming down too. When different countries were responding to the increased price of foods, one sad outcome that many countries were doing was they were no longer exporting food. They were keeping food was in the wrong country for their own country’s interests. Frankly I think we are now at the point where we need to be more mindful on a global scale of food security. My dad was a history teacher and he has told me more than once that the reason countries go to war is because they are hungry. The more we can be mindful of that fact and be sure that we can satisfy the caloric needs of people throughout the world, it will be a better place year too.
Previous ReportFind a Job
Next ReportAPH Exclusion