Our Mission

To ensure food security in the face of a changing climate and growing population over the next century

About 1 in every 9 people do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life (“Hunger Statistics,” 2015). World hunger and malnutrition is a serious global issue, and one which will only grow more serious over the next century as the population grows, the climate changes, and natural resources are depleted (“The State of Food Insecurity in the World,” 2011; Hallegatte). In spite of these problems, there are steps that can be taken to feed the global population and ensure food security for future.

Production

Create a robust system of agriculture and farming that can feed the population without straining the Earth’s natural resources, optimizing resource use and investing in research

Allocation

End inefficient and wasteful food use and implement policies to make more food available

Distribution

Create food transportation, distribution, and storage strategies for the global population

 

We have defined global food security to exist when the global population has reliable access, physically and economically, to the food they need to stay nourished.

In order to address these issues, we must put policies in place with the goal of creating a more sustainable future. We should refocus subsidies to discourage practices that contribute to climate change and food waste, and reward sustainable practices that will feed malnourished populations. We should refocus financial aid to benefit developing countries that need help, and encourage developed countries to adopt less wasteful practices for the good of the world.

Timeline of Solutions:

2015: Immediate Measures

  • Malnourishment
    • As an emergency response measure, nutrient supplementation is provided to malnourished populations
  • Education
    • Distribution of information about storage silos is distributed to farming communities, to prepare the populations for their use
  • Research
    • Data collection of soil data for farmlands begins across the world to identify potential new farming sites and to identify areas where fertilizers or crop rotation must be used to improve soil composition, continues for four years
    • Research into second generation biofuels (those which do not use food crops) intensifies
  • Funding
    • Funding from sources outside of the government to incentivize installation of irrigation systems begins to increase in increments over the next 25 years
  • Government Policy
    • Regional, provincial, and national bodies take measures to preserve current global agricultural land
    • Policymakers begin to examine potential legal obstacles to effective urban agriculture and transportation
    • Policymakers make emergency policy changes to allow safe wastewater reuse

2020: 5 Years

  • Malnourishment
    • New organizations to glean unharvested food and redistribute extra food are established
  • Education
    • Training for new farming communities begins and education about the practice of farmers cooperatives increases overall
    • Nutrition education programs are established
    • Mobile information systems are implemented in countries with some existing systems
  • Research
    • 2 or 3 genetically modified crops are identified and development begins to target their implementation to specific areas
  • Partnerships
    • Fishermen partnerships are established in regions where fishing is a staple
    • 50% of grocery stores and restaurants start to develop a mutual relationship with local food agencies
    • Groups formed devoted to guiding the development of community gardens
  • Funding
    • Subsidies to the livestock industry are completely depleted
    • Developing Countries devote at least 1% of their GDP to education subsidies
    • Grants are created to subsidize the cost of community garden development
  • Government Policy
    • Legal policies conducive to widespread urban farming are implemented in major cities worldwide
    • Governments declare acts to increase incentives and reduce liability for food donation
    • Subsidies for sustainable farms in developed countries and research into closed-loop systems for use in drylands are increased
    • Government implementation of support system to support cooperative niche markets; in 1 year first cooperative programs start to sell products to premium markets
  • Technologies
    • Install GPS monitoring system in more than 1.3 million fishing vessels
    • Existing irrigation systems remodeled for greater efficiency
    • In areas with more upward mobility, drip irrigation is implemented widely
    • Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags hit the markets and begin getting recognition and support
    • Building of silos/storage warehouses with government/private funding
    • Distribution of storage bags made from tightly woven fabric or synthetic materials–used to keep grains safe

2025: 10 Years

  • Malnourishment
    • Nutritional intake from the main staple crops of each farming region is doubled
  • Education
    • Education programs encourage smaller portions and less extra food waste in developed countries
  • Partnerships
    • 100% of grocery stores and restaurants establish a trusted relationship with local food agencies
  • Funding
    • Government subsidies for first generation biofuels are phased out
    • Pressure petroleum companies invest in second generation biofuel production
    • First round of storage building leases are paid off–storage buildings become completely farmer owned
    • Monetization of food aid is completely eliminated
  • Technology
    • Farming and compost techniques suggested by Mission 2019 are universally implemented
    • Crop loss to droughts and floods is reduced to 75% of current levels due to our solutions
    • Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology successfully replaces traditional bar code at most grocery stores
    • The mobile information system is made available to all farmers in Africa and Southeast Asia

2030: 15 Years

  • Partnership
    • Relationship between grocery stores, restaurants and local food banks helps improve the efficiency of food management of businesses, food transportation between locations, and food availability at food agencies
  • Technology
    • Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) proliferates through the markets of developing countries

2035: 20 Years

  • Education
    • Soil testing ends, begin training farmers in proper planting methods
  • Funding
    • Investment in long term aquaculture development increases
  • Technology
    • Urban agriculture has a presence in at least 80% of major cities globally
    • 350 billion USD saved by taking action on desert reversal.
    • Drip irrigation is most common type of irrigation in all developed countries
    • Monocropping removed from desert and desert-prone areas
    • All food distributors use RFID technology–incentivised by improved management and increases in profit
  • Government Policy
    • Introduction of Mandatory Primary School for sufficiently economically progressed impoverished countries
  • Results
    • Animal product consumption in the developed world reduced by 50%.

2065: 50 Years

  • Technology
    • Closed–loop systems are implemented in rural, developing, and developed regions, where all farm waste is recycled back into the farm
    • Sustainable drip irrigation systems are put in place in place, using wastewater and groundwater where appropriate
    • Evaluation studies make determinations on how to further improve crop yield due to irrigation
    • Rebuilding of ecosystems through sequestering and isolation where deemed appropriate
  • Results
    • 34,866,000 square kilometers of farmable land are recovered from deserts
    • 75% of the global population not malnourished
    • Crop loss to natural disasters halved, with no complete annual losses
    • Land reserved for agricultural uses only and up to 450 million hectares of underutilized and abandoned land converted for biocrop uses

2115: 100 Years

  • All development or upscaling proposed has been fully implemented
  • Undernutrition is Eliminated

We are confident that by following these solutions, the world’s food security can be assured.

 

Works Cited:

Hallegatte, S., Bangalore, M., Bonzanigo, L., Fay, M., Kane, T., Narlock, U., . . .  Hunger Statistics. (2015). Retrieved November 24, 2015, from https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats

The State of Food Insecurity in the World. (2011). Retrieved November 13, 2015, from http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2330e.pdf

Vogt-Schilb, A. (2015, November 1). Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. Retrieved November 13, 2015, from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/22787/9781464806735.pdf

Header images:

Agrodaily, (14, Aug, 2014) Russian Wheat Crop Hit by ‘Quality’ Issues Too, Retrieved 23 Nov. 2015 from <http://agrodaily.com/2014/08/15/russian-wheat-crop-hit-by-quality-issues-too/>

Two Barn Farm (n.d.) An Autumnal Pictoral on the Farm >> autumn fall farm. corn.  Retrieved 23 Nov. 2015 from <http://twobarnfarm.org/2012/10/14/an-autmun-pictorial-on-the-farm/autumn-fall-farm-corn/>

Media ad (n.d.) Farm Field.  Retreived 26 Nov. 2015 from <http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wcbu/files/201311/farm_field.jpeg>

 

Reference in this site to any specific commercial product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by MIT