Gates Foundation Commits to Basic Ag Science Funding-- Aim Is Small Farms in Developing Countries

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Moves Fund Research in Small Scale Farming

"If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers, most of whom are women," Gates said.CNN story here

Once again, Bill Gates finds a base level solution providing strong vectors that help solve many key problems. In this case it’s a commitment to work on solving world hunger by improving small farm agrcutural methods in developing countries.

If you want to build, stronger, smarter citizens you must firzt have a basic level of agrculture technology to provide enough sufficient nutritional and caloric intake. Funding specialized research into agricultural technologies and products as well as educational institutions that enable all of this is an important evolutionary step in these overall processes.

In looking around at topics in the coming conference season, I was struck by Gates’ position on funding agriculture in developing countries. How does this compare in  importance to say a discussion of technology opportunities in Sharan Africa, West Africa or the Horn of Africa? Before you have techno0logy centers, you need people who are capable of feeding themselves and producing basic surplusses.

        Without such basic ingredients in developing countries you have conditions leading to wars over agriculturally or water rich territories or famine on a bibical scale.

The importance of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding agricultural research for small farms in developing countries?

        Some things are so self evident they need not be argued.

        That’s my screed for the week—Jim Forbes 01/25/2008

(mandatory disclosure. I am a graduate of an agricultural  and technology college as well as the direct descendant of female farmer from Western Colorado. That woman, my maternal grandmother, Ella Sherrod Forbes,  lost her husband to anthrax, then moved her family to California but instilled a love of the land and agriculture that exists in her lineage to this day.jmf)