The Evolving Sphere of Food Security

Hundreds of millions of people still suffer from chronic hunger and food insecurity despite sufficient levels of global food production. The poor's inability to afford adequate diets remains the biggest constraint to solving hunger, but the dynamics of global food insecurity are complex and demand analysis that extends beyond the traditional domains of economics and agriculture. How do the policies used to promote food security in one country affect nutrition, food access, natural resources, and national security in other countries? How do the priorities and challenges of achieving food security change over time as countries develop economically? The Evolving Sphere of Food Security seeks to answer these two important questions and others by exploring the interconnections of food security to security of many kinds: energy, water, health, climate, the environment, and national security. Through personal stories of research in the field and policy advising at local and global scales, a multidisciplinary group of scholars provide readers with a real-world sense of the opportunities and challenges involved in alleviating food insecurity. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, management of HIV/AIDS, the establishment of an equitable system of land property rights, and investment in solar-powered irrigation play an important role in improving food security--particularly in the face of global climate change. Meanwhile, food price spikes associated with the United States' biofuels policy continue to have spillover effects on the world's rural poor with implications for stability and national security. The Evolving Sphere of Food Security traces four key areas of the food security field: 1) the political economy of food and agriculture; 2) challenges for the poorest billion; 3) agriculture's dependence on resources and the environment; and 4) food in a national and international security context. This book connects these areas in a way that tells an integrated story about human lives, resource use, and the policy process. "The Evolving Sphere of Food Security will be an inspiration to all who want to understand the key importance of food, water, and energy as they link with health, the environment, and the role of women-all so crucial for sustainable development." - Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway"This book performs a great service by tackling our species' most important issue with sober, insightful analysis from every relevant angle. It shatters the easy assumptions and mythology that all too often cloud our understanding of poverty, food and hunger to deliver news vital to each and every one of the 7 plus billion of us. It is about far more than food security. Read right, it illuminates the human condition and outlines the rules for our continued sustenance on the evolving sphere that is our planet." - Richard Manning, author of Against the Grain and Food's FrontierForeword ; Kofi Annan ; I) INTRODUCTION ; 1. The Many Faces of Food Security ; Rosamond L. Naylor ; II) THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ; 2. Food Security for the Poorest Billion: Policy Lessons from Indonesia ; Walter P. Falcon ; 3. The Food Security Roots of the Middle Income Trap ; Scott Rozelle, Jikun Huang, and Xiaobing Wang ; 4. Institutions, Interests, and Incentives in American Food and Agriculture ; Policy ; Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, David Lazarus, Walter Falcon, and Rosamond L. Naylor ; 5. Political Economy of EU Agricultural and Food Policies and Global Food Security ; Johan Swinnen ; III) CHALLENGES FOR THE POOREST BILLION ; 6. Creating Synergies Between Water, Energy, and Food Security for Smallholders ; Jennifer Burney ; 7. Health and Development at the Food-Water Nexus ; Jennifer Davis, Eran Bendavid, Amy J. Pickering, and Rosamond L. Naylor ; 8. Land Institutions and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa ; Whitney L. Smith and Rosamond L. Naylor ; IV) AGRICULTURE'S DEPENDENCE ON RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT ; 9. Food, Energy, and Climate Connections in a Global Economy ; David B. Lobell, Rosamond L. Naylor, and Christopher B. Field ; 10. Agricultural Nutrient Use and Its Environmental Consequences ; Peter A. Vitousek and Pamela A. Matson ; 11. Water Institutions and Agriculture ; Barton H. Thompson, Jr. ; 12. Global Agriculture and Land Use Changes in the 21st Century: Achieving a Balance Between Food Security, Urban Diet, and Nature Conservation ; Ximena Rueda and Eric F. Lambin ; V. FOOD IN A NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CONTEXT ; 13. Food and Security ; Stephan John Stedman ; 14. From Politics to Farm Plots: A Field Perspective on Food Security ; Rosamond L. Naylor ; Glossary ; Index