Reset The Table

In this episode, Caitlin Welsh and Johan Swinnen, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, sit down to discuss IFPRI’s reorganization and how research had to adapt amid challenges posed by Covid-19. Swinnen details a holistic view of the current state of food insecurity and its contributing factors, focusing on economic causes, the diverse implications of Covid-19, and the distribution of food insecurity across regions and rural/urban divides. Caitlin Welsh and Jo Swinnen also consider what we may discover retroactively about the current moment, what to expect in the future, and possible implications of the September 2020 UN Food Systems Summit.

In this first episode of Reset the Table, Ambassador Ertharin Cousin discusses the differences between today’s global food security crisis and the 2007-2008 global food-price crisis, and ways global responses should differ accordingly. Ambassador Cousin addresses the rise of non-communicable diseases related to poor diets, the impacts of climate change on global food security, the rise of food insecurity in urban areas. Caitlin Welsh and Ambassador Cousin also discuss the ways food insecurity mirrors patterns of racial inequalities in the United States, the U.S. response to food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and what is required of a comprehensive global food security agenda that addresses these concurrent challenges.

In the past, there was a “single story” about global food security—that food insecurity existed outside U.S. borders, among farming communities—that lent itself to a simple policy solution: increasing agricultural production in developing countries. It is still incredibly important to do this—but not only this. As demographics change, geopolitics shift, Covid-19 surges, climate change causes temperature and weather extremes worldwide, and societies address the realities of racial inequalities, today’s food insecurity requires new solutions. On Reset the Table, we’ll make room at the table for fresh ideas for solving food insecurity around the world and right here at home.