Global Food Security Symposium 2019

PAST EVENT VIDEO

Conference

The 2019 Global Food Security Symposium considered: in the face of increasing water insecurity, how we grow an adequate quantity and quality of food to feed a rapidly urbanizing world.

Sebastian Pena Lambarri

Event Date

March 20, 2019

From Scarcity to Security: Managing Water for a Nutritious Food Future

By 2050, over one-half of the world’s population could be at risk due to stress on water resources. How will we grow an adequate quantity—and quality—of food to feed and nourish a rapidly growing, urbanizing world in the face of increasing water insecurity?

Hear from government leaders, social innovators, and influencers at the Global Food Security Symposium on March 20-21, 2019 in Washington, DC.

About the Speakers

Fola Aina

Next Generation Delegate 2019, King’s College London

Allison Aubrey

Food & Health Correspondent, NPR News

Nick Austin

Director, Agricultural Development, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Doug Bereuter

Distinguished Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Doug Bereuter is a distinguished fellow of global food and agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. For four years, he co-chaired the Council's Center on Global Food and Agriculture. He is the president emeritus of the Asia Foundation, a non-governmental development organization, which he led for more than six years following his service as a member of the US House of Representatives.

Alesha Miller

Nonresident Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Alesha Miller is a nonresident fellow of the Center on Global Food and Agriculture at the Council. She currently advises a social impact technology startup and is an independent consultant and public speaker on food and agriculture. Most recently she was managing director of the Council’s Center on Global Food and Agriculture, overseeing strategy, research, policy development, and team management.

Khalid Bomba

CEO, Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)

Khalid Bomba is an agriculture expert and chief executive officer of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), an independent government agency.

Julie Borlaug

Vice President, Communications and PR, Inari

Jay Cammon Jr.

Next Generation Delegate 2019, University of Pennsylvania

Ertharin Cousin

Distinguished Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Prior to joining the Council, Ertharin Cousin served as executive director of the UN World Food Programme where she led the world’s largest humanitarian organization from 2012 to 2017. She also previously served as US ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Cousin is founder and CEO of Food Systems for the Future.

Ivo H. Daalder

CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Ivo H. Daalder served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. He joined the Council as president in 2013 and took on the new role of CEO in 2023. Previously, he was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution and served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. He is the author or editor of 10 books.

Beth Dunford

Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Food Security, USAID; Deputy Coordinator for Development, Feed the Future

Mark Edge

Director of Collaborations for Developing Countries, Bayer

Elizabeth Ellis

CEO, International Development Enterprises (iDE)

Pierre Ferrari

President and CEO, Heifer International

Kevin Fessenden

Senior Director, Global Engineering, Abbott Nutrition

Greg Garrett

Director, Food Policy & Financing, GAIN

Dan Glickman

Distinguished Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Dan Glickman is a distinguished fellow in the Center on Global Food and Agriculture, having co-chaired the Center for nearly a decade. Currently, he's a senior counselor and chair of the International Advisory Board at APCO Worldwide; senior advisor to the US Global Leadership Coalition; and lead director of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group).

Ashok Gulati

Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices

Kalyan Guntuboyina

Syngenta Project Liaison; Senior Researcher, Wageningen University, Netherlands

Cedric Habiyaremye

Dr. Cedric Habiyaremye is a Rwandan crop scientist and agricultural entrepreneur developing solutions for a zero-hunger and malnutrition-free world, and served as a 2018 Next Generation Delegate for the Global Food Security Symposium.

Nuhu H. Hatibu

Regional Head, Eastern Africa, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

David Hertz

Founder, Studio of Environmental Architecture and Skysource.org

Melissa D. Ho

Senior Vice President of Freshwater and Food, World Wildlife Fund United States

Gilbert Houngbo

President, International Fund for Agriculture & Development

Trupti Jain

Founder and Director, Bhungroo

Trupti Jain is a globally acclaimed gender expert with more than 25 years of experience from grass root implementation to government policy framing across India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Her nonprofit Sustainable Green Initiatives Forums and social enterprise Naireeta Services are attending to critical challenges within water management.

Nathanael Johnson

Senior Writer, Grist

Nathanael Johnson has published two books and has written for an array of magazines and radio shows. Currently he's the senior writer for the environmental news organization, Grist.

A.G. Kawamura

Cochair, Solutions from the Land Dialogue

A.G. Kawamura is a founding member of Orange County Produce, LLC, and co-chair of Solutions from the Land, a nonprofit implementing climate-smart land management strategies. He serves on several boards and committees including American Farmland Trust Board member; Farm Foundation Board member; Western Growers Association Board member and former chair. He is the former secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (2003-2010).

Annah Latane

Food Security and Agriculture Specialist, RTI

Shen Ming Lee

Next Generation Delegate 2019, Cornell University

Jellie Molino

Next Generation Delegate 2019, University of Turin

Peter G. McCornick

Executive Director, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, University of Nebraska

In his current role, Peter G. McCornick leads the institute in delivering on its vision of a water and food secure world, building its partnerships and collaborations in Nebraska, the United States, and other key food-producing regions in the world. He is a tenured professor in the department of biosystems engineering at the university and the Robert B. Daugherty Chair of Water for Food.

Ted McKinney

Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, US Department of Agriculture

Ted McKinney leads the development and implementation of the USDA’s trade policy, facilitates foreign market access, and promotes opportunities for US agriculture through trade programs and high-level government negotiations. In 2014, he was appointed by then-Governor Mike Pence to serve as director of the Indiana state department of agriculture, a position he held until joining USDA in 2017.

Mamta Mehra

Senior Fellow, Biosequestration Modeling, Project Drawdown

Femi Oke

International Journalist and Moderator, NABJ

Femi Oke is an international journalist, broadcaster, and moderator. Since the 1980s, she has worked for BBC television and radio, Sky TV, all UK terrestrial television networks, CNN, and US public radio. Oke’s reporting has been recognized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Communications Agency, and InterAction.

Betsy Otto

Global Director, Water Program, World Resources Institute (WRI)

Betsy Otto directs World Resource Institute’s global water program, including Aqueduct™, a global open-source water risk assessment, and mapping tool. Otto works across WRI to incorporate sustainable water solutions for cities, energy, governance, finance, and climate adaptation. Prior to WRI, Otto worked on water policy issues at American Rivers in Washington, DC.

Roric Paulman

Owner, Paulman Farms

Roric Paulman is active on state, regional, and national boards for many of the crops he grows, but is focused on helping to promote farmer understanding of best practices in water-use efficiency. He provides leadership of the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance, an organization that catalyzes best practices among farmers by emphasizing practical, locally-focused watershed management practices.

Pearl Gaone Ranna

Inaugural Obama Foundation Scholar; Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Mark W. Rosegrant

Former Nonresident Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Mark W. Rosegrant is a research fellow emeritus in the Director General's Office, International Food Policy Research Institute. Prior to that, he was director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division. He has extensive experience in research and policy analysis of agriculture and economic development and the future of world food security.

Will Sarni

Founder and CEO, Water Foundry

Will Sarni is an internationally recognized leader on water strategy and innovation. He has been a sustainability and water strategy advisor to multinationals, water technology companies, and NGOs for his entire career. Sarni has authored numerous books and articles and presented on: the value of water, innovations in digital water technology, the circular economy, and the energy-water-food nexus.

Steven Schonberger

Director, Water Global Practice, The World Bank

Steven Schonberger is a director for the World Bank’s Water Global Practice. In this capacity, Schonberger ensures that the World Bank is providing the highest quality technical and implementation support to clients through its lending, analytical, advisory, and other knowledge exchange services, as well as ensuring knowledge exchange and effective linkage to global best practice.

Roy Steiner

Senior VP, Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation

Michael Tiboris

Nonresident Fellow, Global Water

Michael Tiboris is nonresident global water fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and was a public fellow for the American Council of Learned Societies. His research focuses on primary resource stability as a foreign policy objective, and is particularly focused on water resource policy, cooperative resource governance, and global justice.

Roger Thurow

Former Senior Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Roger Thurow spent three decades at The Wall Street Journal as a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa prior to joining the Council in 2010. His coverage spanned the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, the end of apartheid, and humanitarian crises. He is the author of three books.

Chuck Warta

President, Cargill Premix & Nutrition (CPN), Cargill

Chuck Warta is the president of Cargill Premix & Nutrition (CPN), one of Cargill’s fastest-growing businesses, globally. In this role, he is responsible for serving customers in more than 100 markets, leading more than 7,000 employees across 26 countries. Through his leadership, CPN is driving Cargill’s success in bringing innovation to agriculture and enhancing animal well-being.

John Willard III

CEO, PlantCatalyst

Estelle Youssouffa

International Affairs Consultant

Estelle Youssouffa is an independent bilingual broadcast journalist and international affairs consultant. Since January 2014, she's been a news anchor on BFM TV, the leading and most-viewed French 24-hour news network. Youssouffa is also an investigative reporter working for the French leading public television network France 2.

Winston Yu

Principal Researcher and Senior Advisor, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Winston Yu is a senior water resources specialist at the World Bank. Currently he's on an external assignment with IWMI, serving as a principal researcher and senior advisor to the director general. He has extensive experience working on technical and institutional problems in the water sector and has carried out several investment operations and research projects in a variety of developing countries.