Professor Timothy Reeves FTSE, international and national consultant on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Food Security, presented at the UNAA Victoria Global Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture Seminar held on Tuesday 29 October in Melbourne. Held in support of the United Nations Zero Hunger Challenge, in partnership with NAB and the University of Melbourne, this seminar was part of the UNAA Sustainability Leadership Series and sought to build momentum for collective action on food security and sustainable agriculture post Rio +20. Bringing together experts and practitioners from government, business, civil society, farmers' organisations, research and academia, the seminar sought to provide a platform for shared learning and discussion on Australia's role in addressing the global food security challenge and advancing sustainable agricultural practices. It highlighted the challenges and opportunities that Australian government, businesses, and NGOs face as they contribute to developing and promoting sustainable food supply chains that increase food production, preserve natural resources and fight hunger at the local, national and global level. For more information about this seminar and the UNAA Sustainability Leadeship Series please visit www.unaavictoria.org.au/education-advocacy/masterclasses/

1. Food Security
• Global
• National
• Local
‐ Quantity
‐ Quantity, Availability, Use
‐ Quantity, Availability, Use,
Access
• Household ‐ Quantity, Availability, Use,
Access, Nutrition

2. FOOD SECURITY EQUALS ACCESS TO
FOOD, ITS AVAILABILITY, THE WAY IT IS
UTILIZED AND ITS COMPOSITION
From Sir Gordon Conway’s book – ‘One billion hungry: can we feed the world?’

5. FOOD SECURITY

6. ‘DOUBLE’ FOOD
PRODUCTION BY 2050

7. Population density 2000
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/eart-01.html

8. Why?
Food Demand
By 2050 dietary shifts will result in the consumption equivalent
of about 11.5 billion people at 2009 diet levels.
POPULATION = 9 BILLION
Source: United Nations Estimates

11. Energy
• 1400 litres oil equivalent/year to feed one
person (developed world)
• Nitrogen fertilizer – utilizing ‘fossil fuel’

12. Why?
Urea production requires fossil fuels.
equivalent of four barrels of oil to produce one ton of urea.
4-barrel energy equivalency
equivalent
Urea = 46% Nitrogen

13. Food Waste
• FAO – 30%+!
• Storage, handling, transport
• Sustainable diets

14. Food crisis – declining stocks
Source: J. Dixon 2008
CIMMYT®
www.cimmyt.org

15. Climate change
• Warmer, drier
• More variability
• More extreme events
• Elevated CO2
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=48751

16. Energy farming
• Biofuels
–Ethanol
–Biodiesels

17. Food security –
What’s needed?
• Increased yields
• Increased productivity
• PROFITABLE

18. More with less –
Sustainable Production
Intensification (SPI)
‘Save and Grow’

20. ‘Save and Grow’
Helping Farmers Implement
Sustainable Production Intensification
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the institutions identified.

22. Scale?
Smallholder and broadacre farmers
Scale neutral!

23. Technical principles
• Agricultural productivity
Natural capital and ecosystems services
Simultaneously!
• Enhanced input‐use efficiency
• Use of biodiversity – natural and managed –
to build farming system resilience

24. How?
• Minimize soil
disturbance
by minimizing tillage
• Enhance and maintain
soil organic cover
• Cultivate a wider range
of plant species

25. • Better varieties
• Enhanced crop
nutrition based
on healthy soils
• Integrated
management
of pests, diseases and weeds
• Efficient water management

26. 26

27. Diversification Opportunities in IGP
Promote bed planting to save on water and
promote diversification

28. Zero vs. Conventional
Farmer Practice in
CA in 2009
2009
ZT
Govaerts et al., 2005
CT