A Call to Rebuild U.S. Leadership in Food and Agricultural R&D

The Food Security Leadership Council released “A Call to Rebuild U.S. Leadership in Food and Agricultural R&D,” urging the United States to launch a once-in-a-generation, nonpartisan effort to boost the sustainable productivity and profitability of food crops by investing no less than $100 billion in new strategic public R&D initiatives over ten years.

“If we don’t act now, the United States will lose its edge in agricultural innovation and cut short the pipeline of new innovations that is so desperately needed to tackle today’s challenges both at home and around the world,” said Dr. Cary Fowler, President of the Council, former U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, and 2024 World Food Prize Laureate. “Complacency has long-term ramifications for both our own economy and global food security.”

FSLC highlights the many ways innovation in agriculture can advance our economic, security, and environmental goals, and notes the slowdown in U.S. agricultural productivity growth amid China and others’ growing investment.

The Food Security Leadership Council makes the path forward clear: the United States must invest in agricultural R&D to benefit farmers, consumers, and the larger humanitarian and national security imperative of achieving a food-secure world. To achieve this, we must align new investments with a national strategy that re-orients the U.S. agricultural R&D system toward the goal of increasing sustainable productivity growth.

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