interdisciplinary research opportunities at the food-energy-water nexus
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Interdisciplinary Research Opportunities at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus:
Perspectives on the food dimension from an agricultural development economist
Nicole M. Mason, Assistant Professor Department of Agricultural, Food, & Resource Economics
103-105 Kellogg Center, 14 January 2016
To feed 9.7 billion by 2050, food production will need to increase by at least 50% … and in the face of: • Poor access to affordable, reliable, clean energy • Land & water scarcity, degradation/pollution • Climate change
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Not just more food, different food • Urbanization and rising incomes à increased
demand for: • Eggs, meat, fish, dairy • Fresh fruits and vegetables • Processed foods and
food away from home
• Many positives but water and energy- intensive
Interdisciplinary research at the FEW nexus 1. Sustainable agricultural intensification 2. Climate smart agriculture 3. Improving food systems performance
Land, water, energy, and other inputs • Raising use efficiency • Increasing availability and access to clean,
reliable, sustainable sources
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Spillovers at the FEW nexus – e.g., • How might improving access to safe drinking
water raise agricultural productivity?
• How might having more reliable access to electricity increase the potential for local food processing firms to compete with imports?
Leveraging MSU expertise across campus • Science of resource use, degradation, & restoration
• Developing new technologies, management practices, governance structures, etc.
• Dynamics of adoption/diffusion of innovations; roles of ICTs and human/institutional capacity building; effects on human health, nutrition, and well-being
• Organizations, institutions, policies; political economy
• Many more dimensions; links among above dimensions
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Thank you!
Nicole M. Mason Department of Agricultural, Food, & Resource Economics
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1950
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1975
1980
1985
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1995
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2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
2035
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2045
2050
World pop
ula*
on (b
illions)
Developing countries
Developed countries
Source: UN Population Division, 2015
7.3
9.7
9.7 billion by 2050; most growth in developing countries
Example: Improving maize yields, yield response to N, nutrition, and incomes in Tanzania
• To feed 9.7 billion by 2050, need to increase crop yields – e.g., maize in ESA
• Raising maize response to N key • Why is it so much lower on smallholder farms? • Can doubled-up legume rotations help? Profitable?
• Refining the technology, crop and soil science • Identifying constraints and opportunities for adoption/
diffusion, mechanisms for scale-up • Effects on nutrition, incomes, and poverty
• Interdisciplinary team of crop and soil scientists, ag economists, nutritionists; MSU-Wageningen-Tanzania