A noted scholar and World Food Prize winner said technological advances in agriculture are key to solving problems in poverty-stricken countries and reducing future conflict.

While most policy makers agree hunger and poverty have ties to international terrorism, Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen offers another approach: "Why don't we have a war on poverty as one way to reduce armed conflict and terror on countries?"

The remark received applause from those gathered Thursday at the inaugural Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture Series at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.

Pinstrup-Andersen, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University, won the World Food Prize in 2001.

He also serves as professor of development economics at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, and is a distinguished professor at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

His speech argued that technological changes in agriculture reduce both armed conflict and terrorism globally. Hungry countries also lack economic development, he said.

He used Southeast Asia as an example, where both pre-school children and women suffer from iron deficiencies.
"These people are sick and part of a very important health problem," Pinstrup-Andersen said. "This reduces productivity, which is a very important economic development problem."

He also stressed the importance of investment in agricultural research in developing countries, using a multiplier effect for each dollar spent.

For each research dollar allocated to a hungry country, that equals a $6 increase in agricultural outputs, he said, "and equals a $15 increase in economic growth."

With ambitions of owning his own farm, Pinstrup-Andersen briefly dropped out of school to save money to buy farm land. However, when Denmark joined the European Union, land prices skyrocketed. He opted to return to school and later pursued a career in academia.

"He's one of the most influential economists and policy makers today," said Dr. Norman Borlaug, distinguished professor of International Agriculture at Texas A&M, introducing Pinstrup-Andersen.

"Here is a farm boy who wanted to be a farmer. Look where he went. Look at how many families he has helped improve their standards of living," Borlaug said.

Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for innovations in wheat production technology developed in Mexico, and later introduced in Pakistan, India, Turkey, China and several South American countries during the 1960s.

The Texas A&M Office of International and Agriculture and the Charles Riley Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation hosted Thursday's lecture.

Established by the Riley Memorial Foundation in 2005, the lecture series honors the legacy of Charles Valentine Riley, a 19th century agriculturalist who sought to improve agriculture through new scientific knowledge.

A panel discussion was also part of Thursday's event. A panel discussion featured Dr. Reed Hertford, president of EAM Co. and a consultant; Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, Bob Bullock Chair in Government and Public Policy and director of the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service; and Dr. Edward Hiler, Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University. Ambassador Tibor Nagy. associate vice provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech University, moderated the panel.

Writer: Blair Fannin