The Biden-Harris Administration has released a National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health ahead of today’s Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. In the strategy, President Biden highlights the importance and need for research on how to boost food supply in the face of climate change.
The White House conference will address a report that was created by Federal agencies and that contains “specific statutory, regulatory, and budgetary solutions to ending hunger and improving nutrition and health in the United States and the Territories,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release.
The policy aims for tackling food security and diet-related illnesses through five pillars: increasing nutrition and food security research; guaranteeing access to healthy options; ensuring nutrition and health integration; and assuring access to affordable food.
The strategy calls for funding and action from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for research on climate change and food supply as well as examining the relationship between soil and human health.
With well-known panelists and speakers including New York Mayor Eric Adams, the White House conference today recognizes concerns about the food supply posed by the environment and the conflict in Ukraine.
“Human-induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots—fossil fuels—and our dependence on them,” Ukrainian applied climatologist Svitlana Krakovska, one of the authors of the latest IPPC report on climate change, told a UN Climate Conference last month, according to AFP.
U.S. faces challenges with food security, nutrition
The United States dropped to 13th position in the 11th Global Food Security Index, published last week by Economist Impact (from 9th in the previous edition).
The index ranks countries based on criteria including accessibility, affordability, availability, quality and safety, and sustainability.
“Long-term food security depends on addressing some of the major challenges in the agriculture industry that affect farmers,” said Tim Glenn, Executive Vice President, Seed Business Unit, Corteva Agriscience. “Sponsoring the Global Food Security Index aligns with Corteva Agriscience’s commitment to growing progress. With global food security declining again, there is an urgent need to renew our collective commitment to innovation and collaboration to combat food insecurity.”
According to CDC research published yesterday, the number of states with high adult obesity rates has more than doubled.
“Nineteen states and two territories have at least 35% of residents with adult obesity – more than doubling the number of states with a high obesity prevalence since 2018,” the CDC reports.
According to Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, biotech support for food security is needed in the form of a “clear, science-based, and efficient regulatory system.
