Prepping for Food Summit
Since COVID revealed weaknesses in agriculture supply chains, officials have been asking how to create more resilient and equitable food systems.
That is the foundation of a UN Summit on Food Systems in New York next month.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Jewel Bronaugh was in Rome last month with a U.S. delegation at a special pre-summit meeting on improving the world's food system.
Bronaugh: “The engagement and people who are willing to work together to end hunger and malnutrition while we build more sustainable and equitable food systems. And we do that in a way that we can transform our food systems so that we protect our climate. I think we did a really excellent job of highlighting the United States’ perspective and our contributions to our food systems, feeding the world, and working together to address climate change. And this is just the beginning of where we’re going. We look forward to more conversations and I think we have really paved the way for some success and we move forward to the summit in September.”
Between now and the big summit work is being done by participating nations to set expectations and standards for climate and food production.
President Biden has expressed a goal of farmers using new technologies for carbon-capturing as the next frontier in agriculture. It was part of the Agriculture Innovation Mission or AIM announced last spring. The goal is to increase innovation and research in agriculture and food systems with climate change in mind. At least 16 countries have signed on to the AIM initiative.
