All FSE Events

Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium 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?


The series is funded by a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Events

Symposiums
Thursday, May 23, 2013
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Thursday, October 11, 2012
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Thursday, May 10, 2012
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)
Symposiums
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
(Pacific)