Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series

EVENT SERIES

FSE's Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium series brought the world's leading policy experts in the fields of food and agricultural development to Stanford to participate in an integrated, twelve-lecture series on pro-poor growth and food security policy. Participants addressed the major themes of hunger and rural poverty, agricultural productivity, resource and climate constraints on agriculture, and food and agriculture policy. The series focused on the implementation of sound policies that will enhance agricultural production, incomes, and resource stewardship. Videos and papers from all lectures can be found below. The culmination of the series was a published volume of edited papers, Frontiers in Food Policy. Additionally, FSE worked with Stanford's Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) to create a unit of high school lesson plans on global food policy and food security in the 21st century. The unit is free to download and can be found here.

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Symposium videos and papers
All videos also available on FSE's YouTube channel: FoodSecuritySU

Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the Roles for Firms and Foundations
February 10, 2011
Speakers: Jeff Raikes, CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Greg Page, CEO and Chairman, Cargill, Inc.

Why Has Africa Been Slow in Developing its Agriculture?
April 7, 2011
Speaker: Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Commentary: Peter Timmer, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University
Paper: Agriculture and Structural Transformation in Africa

Assisting the Escape from Persistent Ultra-Poverty in Rural Africa
April 27, 2011
Speaker: Christopher Barrett, Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, International Professor of Agriculture, Cornell University
Commentary: William Masters, Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts
Paper: Assisting the escape from persistent ultra-poverty in rural Africa

Managing Food Price Volatility: Approaches at the global, national, and household levels
May 26, 2011
Speaker: Peter Timmer, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University
Commentary: Thom Jayne, Professor of International Development at Michigan State University
Paper: Managing Price Volatility: Approaches at the global, national, and household levels

African Agricultural R&D and Productivity Growth in a Global Setting
October 6, 2011
Speakers: Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Philip Pardey, Professor of Science and Technology, Applied Economics, University of Minnesota
Paper: African Agricultural Productivity Growth and R&D in a Global Setting

Food Security is a Global Challenge
November 10, 2011
Speaker: Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Climate Change and Agricultural Adaptation
December 8, 2011
Speaker: David Lobell, Assistant Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, and FSE Center Fellow, Stanford University
Commentary: Fatima Denton, Program Leader for Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (IDRC)
Paper: Climate Change and Agricultural Adaptation

Emerging Land Issues in African Agriculture: Toward the identification of appropriate rural development strategies
January 12, 2012
Speaker: Thom Jayne, Professor of International Development, Michigan State University
Commentary: Derek Byerlee, independent scholar
Paper: Emerging Land Issues in African Agriculture: Implications for food security and poverty reduction strategies

Biofuels: The changing nature of agricultural demand
April 11, 2012
Speaker: Roz Naylor, Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University
Commentary: Siwa Msangi, International Food Policy Research Institute
Paper: Biofuels, Rural Development, and the Changing Nature of Agricultural Demand

Structural Change and the Future of Indian Agriculture
May 10, 2012
Speaker: Hans Binswanger-Mkhize, Adjunct Professor at School of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing
Commentary: Marianne Banziger, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Paper: India 1960-2010: Structural Change, the Rural Non-farm Sector, and the Prospects for Agriculture

Linkages Between Food Systems and Human Health in Africa
October 11, 2012
Speaker: Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship, Cornell University
Commentary: Eran Bendavid, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford
Paper: Food systems and human health and nutrition: An economic policy perspective with a focus on Africa

How Can Trade Improve Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa?
January 23, 2013
Speaker: Kym Anderson, George Gollin Professor of Economics, University of Adelaide; Professor of Economics, Australian National University
Commentary: Jo Swinnen, Professor of Development Economics and Director of LICOS Center for Institutions and Economic Performance at the University of Leuven (KUL)
Paper: How Can Trade Improve Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Africa's Food Systems in 2030
February 5, 2013
Speakers: Paul Collier, Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University
Commentary: Derek Byerlee, Director, 2008 World Development Report
Paper: African agriculture in 50 years: Smallholders in a rapidly changing world?

China's Agricultural Development Policies: Are there lessons for Africa?
April 17, 2013
Speaker: Scott Rozelle, Helen H. Farnsworth Senior Fellow, co-director Rural Education Action Program (REAP), Stanford University
Commentary: Alain de Janvry, economist
Paper: The Role of Agriculture in China’s Development: Performance, policy determinants of success, and lessons for Africa

Water and Agriculture in a Changing Africa: What might be done?
May 23, 2013
Speaker: John Briscoe, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Environmental Engineering, Harvard University
Commentary: Jennifer Burney, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Policy in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego
Paper: Water and Agriculture in Africa: The politics of the belly or the politics of the mirror?