International Food Policy Researcher to Speak at WSU
OGDEN, Utah — Weber State University will host Andrew Bell, senior researcher in the Environment and Production Technology Division for the International Food Policy Research Institute, Oct. 7 as part of its Food Matters Lecture Series. The lecture will take place from noon-1:30 p.m. in Elizabeth Hall Room 229.Bell will present some of the issues and research challenges with food the developing world might experience in coming decades. The title of his lecture is “The People Side of Food Security: Institutions & Food Production.”
“Improving food security doesn’t just mean producing more food,” Bell said. “It means thinking more about who is producing what food, where it is going, and what exactly we wish to encourage.”
Bell is working on a research project in Malawi, Africa, in collaboration with WSU assistant economics professor Gregory Parkhurst and his students. They are evaluating the willingness of farmers to engage in subsidized programs that promote agricultural conservation practices.
The Malawi project focuses on creating incentives to promote adoption and compliance of conservation agriculture. The conservation process involves returning plant stalks back to the soil after harvest, rotating crops on the fields and using better mechanical practices in planting and harvesting. This increases vital nutrients in the topsoil, makes the soil denser and reduces erosion.
“The problem in Africa is when we bring in ideas such as conservation agriculture, farmers don’t really understand how to implement the new technology,” Parkhurst said. “They don’t understand what the returns are. Without hands-on experience, they may not be believers. That decreases the probability they will adopt the practices.”
That’s why WSU economists say subsidies are required to help farmers adopt conservation practices, but they have to generate subsidy programs that are in place long enough for farmers to become financially stable.
Parkhurst said Bell has had experience implementing improved agriculture policies worldwide. He currently leads projects in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malawi.
“He interacts with government entities, landowners and non-profits,” Parkhurst said. “When incentives are not congruent with historical practices, you can be very ineffective in their application in the local culture.”
Bell received his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management and a certificate in Complexity Science from the University of Michigan.
WSU’s yearlong, campus-wide conversation about food is the third installment of topical lecture series on the primary elements for survival. Earlier installments included the topics of water and air. The themes emerged from focus groups with university representatives who hoped a yearlong focus would promote a lifetime of conscientious choices.
Parkhurst said that in discussions on the topic of food, one thing that surfaced was the fact that some WSU students also face the challenge of getting enough food.
“We started thinking about food insecurity, starting at the international level down to the national, state and local levels of Ogden and Weber State,” he said. “You can see that these issues of food insecurity actually happen here at home as well as abroad. It is easy to think about issues abroad because we can see the areas where people are malnourished or are starving. It is easy to say that the problem isn’t local, but it is.”
The Center for Community Engaged Learning, the Environmental Issues Committee and the Department of Economics are sponsoring the lecture.
For more information about the Food Matters lecture series, visit weber.edu/ccel/foodmatters.html. For more information on the International Food Policy Research Institute, visit ifpri.org.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
- Marcus Jensen, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7295 • marcusjensen@weber.edu - Contact:
- Gregory Parkhurst, economics assistant professor
801-626-6792 • gregoryparkhurst@weber.edu