The Evolving Sphere of Food Security

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor

Features a foreword by Kofi Annan, Founding Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, and Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
Examines food security in its broadest form by tying it to security of many other kinds: energy, water, health, climate, the environment, and national security
Analyzes food security beyond narrow definitions and seeks strategies beyond the traditional domains of agriculture
Describes and creates a framework for analysis of the connections between countries and sectors over time and space by presenting a real world, dynamic view of global food security as seen from the perspectives of scholars from many disciplines ranging from economics to earth science
Contains the stories of the authors' work on food security in various settings around the world
Brings together creativity and range of insights that have emerged from the multidisciplinary approach to food security taken at Stanford

The Evolving Sphere of Food Security

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor

Description

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

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor

Foreword
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 Cuéllar, 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

The Evolving Sphere of Food Security

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor

Author Information

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor, Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University

An economist by training, Rosamond (Roz) Naylor directs the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University and is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Earth System Science. She works with colleagues from several disciplines to study the economic and biophysical dimensions of food security and the environmental impacts of crop and animal production around the world. Roz' work provides her with the opportunity to explore cultures, farming practices, and policies in a wide variety of countries. She has served as an advisor to the McKnight Foundation's Collaborative Crop Research Program and currently serves on Advisory Committees for the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, and The Nature Conservancy. She is an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow and a Pew Marine Fellow. At Stanford, Roz teaches courses on the world food economy, human society and environmental change, and food security.

Contributors:

Eran Bendavid
Jennifer Burney
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
Jennifer Davis
Walter P. Falcon
Christopher B. Field
Jikun Huang
Eric F. Lambin
David Lazarus
David B. Lobell
Pamela A. Matson
Rosamond L. Naylor
Amy J. Pickering
Scott Rozelle
Ximena Rueda
Whitney L. Smith
Stephen John Stedman
Johan Swinnen
Barton (Buzz) H. Thompson, Jr.
Peter A. Vitousek
Xiaobing Wang

The Evolving Sphere of Food Security

Edited by Rosamond L. Naylor

Reviews and Awards

"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 Frontier