Food and Fuel America.com: Abundant Food and Energy Through Innovation

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Abundant Food and Energy Through Innovation

Alliance for Abundant Food & Energy Monsanto Deere ADM

After remaining largely quiet, a group of major agricultural companies have jumped into the food and fuel debate. Their message? American innovation is the key to producing both food and fuel!

Last week the companies joined together to form the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, an alliance designed to promote their understanding that through innovation, agriculture can sustainably meet the growing global demand for food and renewable forms of energy.

Founding members of the Alliance include the Archer Daniels Midland Company, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto and the Renewable Fuels Association.

"The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy will underscore the role that agriculture can play in supporting our food and energy needs," said Mark Kornblau, executive director, Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy. "With growing global demand for grain, it's critically important that policy leaders start thinking about how we can grow our way to a solution. Innovation is part of the American DNA - through greater support for agricultural innovation, we can produce enough crops to supply both our food and energy needs worldwide."

Recently, critics have tried to frame the debate as an "either/or" decision, making people feel they must choose between food and energy security. The Alliance believes this is a false choice that ignores both the capabilities of agriculture and our nation's history of using innovation to solve our problems. The Alliance realizes both are possible - and can be accomplished using less land and fewer resources than generally understood.

The companies forming the Alliance are experts in agriculture, from planted seed to market sale, putting them in a unique position to address this current concern. Thanks in part to their research and other efforts, agricultural productivity, particularly in the United States, has increased consistently for the past 100 years. Families around the world have benefited from these innovations as well. Over the last decade, the world's population grew 13 percent, while farmers were able to meet increased needs using only six percent more land.

Source: Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy (pdf)

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