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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

masonn@msu.edu

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Source: UN Population Division, 2015

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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