Challenge Accepted!

The third day of the Borlaug Dialogue concluded Friday afternoon. Throughout the three days of the conference many times it was asked, "Are we ready to face the greatest challenge in human history? Can we sustainably feed 9 billion people by 2050?" While there was much debate and dialogue in all areas affecting world food production, I believe all can say "Challenge Accepted!" We all have different roles and ways we can contribute, but it will take all working towards this common goal to achieve it. Below are highlights and key discussion points form Friday. Although the 2014 Norman Borlaug Dialogue has concluded in Des Moines do not let the dialogue stop in your home communities and around the world. Continue the dialogue and lets work towards feeding 9 billion by 2050! Challenge accepted.

Breakfast Address Remembering Norman Borlaug M.S. Swaminathan, 1987 World Food Prize Laureate

• Highlighted where India was before Borlaug and today.
• Seed is the starting point of change. Potential has many other factors.
• Agriculture, nutrition, and health must all be linked together. 
• How the yield gap was bridged 
• National demonstrations 
• Mainstreaming local preference 
• Research networks
• Farm schools 
• Components of the Green Revolution
• Technology
• Services
• Public policies
• Farmers' enthusiasm

Trend Lines for Political Stability, Global Trade, and Potential Disruptions Moderator: Amb. Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize.

Hon. Charles Rivkin, United States Assistant Secretary of State; John Hamre, President and CEO for Center for Strategic and International Studies; Amb. Daniel Speckhard, President and CEO of Lutheran World Relief

• Agriculture is the cornerstone of our economy.
• Ebola and ISIS are rooted in the same problem...corrupt and unstable governments.
• Problems are horizontal, countries are vertical.
• Science may have the answers, but man can destroy quickly if policies are not in place.
• Reasons why countries are wealthy
• Quality of agriculture
• Human resources (cities, factories, roads, etc.)
• Intangibles (education, stability of currency, judicial system, etc.)
• The biggest part of our problems are politics.

The Smallholder's Lifeline: Innovations in Agro-Financing and Insurance Moderator: Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate

Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-Founder of African Alliance for Capital Expansion; Jimmy Smith, Director General of International Livestock Research Institute; Kurt Weinberger, President of International Association of Agricultural Production Insurers; Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of Africa Centre for Energy Policy; Marco Ferroni, Executive Director of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture

• Agriculture has been, is, and will be the most important sector in the world.
• We must support smallholder farms with credit and protection against risk.
• In order for insurance to be successful you need cooperation between government and private.
• We need to unleash livestock sector. So restricted with policy. Animal agriculture makes up 40% of agriculture.
• Processing food can cut down major waste of food in Africa.
• We need to invest in agriculture. This can be done through insurance.

Borlaug's Dream for Wheat: Technology and Collaboration to Confront Rust Disease Moderator: Ronnie Coffman, International Professor of Plant Breeding at Cornell University

Catherine Feuillet, Senior VP Trait Research with Bayer CropScience; Hans-Joachim Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program; Indu Sharma, Project Director of Directorate of Wheat Research; Mahmoud Sohl, Director General of International Center for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas; Goodarz Najafian, Wheat Breeder and Director General of Seed and Plant Improvement Research Institute in Iran

• Fungicide can help prevent rust if you know it is coming.
• Our biggest challenge with rust is complacency.
• One challenge is getting rust resistant seed to farmers quickly.
• Carrying forward Borlaug's legacy: Green to Gene Revolution
• Regional collaboration is needed to meet the challenges in South Asia.
• Rust is heading east.

Laureate Luncheon Address Sanjaya Rajaram, 2014 World Food Prize Laureate

• There is a certain knowledge base that cannot be learned in the classroom. You must be in the fields.
• Nothing is constant. We must learn from history, but not get lost in the past.
• Policy is needed for fair markets for farmers.
• Has tried to dedicate his life to something that would make a real difference.
• Private and public must work together.
• We must increase production on the land we have with reduced water usage and better nutrient management.