International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), FANRPAN, Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate (affiliated with CCAFS)

The challenges to feed the world?s population, which will reach 9 billion by 2050, are unprecedented?requiring more than a second green revolution. With climate change, global yields in 2050 could decrease by 20-30 percent if we cannot bring good agricultural practices, new technologies, farming methods, and supporting institutions to the world?s farmers. ?Sustainable intensification?--a range of approaches for boosting agricultural production while reducing negative environmental impacts on agriculture--will be critical. However, despite the 2008 food crisis and environmental changes, public investments in agricultural research and extension are low. In the context of the ongoing debate as to which potential farming methods and technologies offer the greatest promise for investment and scale up, this panel will examine the contribution of sustainable agriculture sustainable intensification to agricultural productivity and resilience in the near and long term and how this contribution can be estimated and tracked.

By 2050 the world?s population will have reached 9 billion. The challenges to feed this growing population are unprecedented?requiring more than a second green revolution. With climate change, global yields in 2050 could decrease by 20-30 percent, if we cannot bring good agricultural practices, new technologies, farming methods, and supporting institutions to the world?s farmers. ?Sustainable intensification? refers to a range of approaches for boosting agricultural production while reducing negative environmental impacts on agriculture. These will be critical as pressures rise on soil, water, and biodiversity. However, despite the 2008 food crisis and environmental changes, public investments in agricultural research and extension are still among the lowest in decades. There is also the challenge of meeting the needs of a diverse range of farming systems and farmers around the world, including risk management, asset-building, and profitability. In the context of the ongoing debate as to which potential farming methods and technologies offer the greatest promise for investment and scale up, this panel will examine the contribution of sustainable agriculture sustainable intensification to agricultural productivity and resilience in the near and long term and how this contribution can be estimated and tracked.
Setting the stage is a presentation from IFPRI that highlights the global impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity and then hones in on Latin America and Brazil to illustrate what we know about the potential of different farming practices and systems to address the productivity gap. A distinguished panel comprising representatives of research organizations, governments, and farmers, will then discuss the study and the repercussions for global farming policy and practices, including how to best foster transparency and broad engagement around uptake of new methods and technologies.
Potential questions addressed include:
- What roles should governments, the private sector and the UN play in terms of technology and innovation to help meet sustainable development goals in agriculture? How can their efforts complement? By what measures should they gauge success?
- What lessons in sustainable intensification from Brazil and Latin America, can be transferred to the rest of the world?
- What can existing innovations in agriculture offer to the world and what mechanisms are needed to accelerate knowledge-sharing?
- Which methods and technologies have the greatest promise for closing yield gaps and improving nutrition in low productivity agricultural landscapes? Which ?high risk, high reward research investments should be made now so that we have the necessary methods and technologies for meeting challenges 25 years from now.

Panelists :
Claudia Ringler, International Food Policy Research Institute, U.S.

Adrian Fernández, Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate,
Copenhagen & Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy
Analysis Network (FANRPAN), South Africa

Elisio Contini, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa),
Brazil