153 winners of Nobel and World Food prizes are exploring innovative methods to increase food production in response to increasing global demand

In Des Moines, Iowa, more than 150 recipients of the Nobel and World Food prizes have issued an open letter on Tuesday. They are urging for a significant boost in research and a dedication to new food distribution initiatives. The aim is to enhance crop production and prevent a potential global hunger crisis in the upcoming decades.

The letter highlights the current situation where approximately 700 million individuals are facing food insecurity and extreme poverty. It warns that without a substantial effort to increase the production of a variety of food types, a larger population will struggle with food scarcity due to the impacts of climate change and population growth.

The signatories of the letter, which include 153 recipients of these prestigious prizes, emphasize the trajectory towards a more food-insecure and unstable world by the middle of the century. They highlight the exacerbation of conditions through a dangerous cycle of conflict and food insecurity. The letter points out that climate change is expected to lower the productivity of key staple foods at a time when substantial increases are required to feed a growing global population, projected to reach 1.5 billion more by 2050.

Corn production in Africa is expected to decline and much of the world could see more soil degradation and water shortages, the letter says.

“We are not on track to meet future food needs. Not even close,” it adds.

The letter grew from a meeting of food accessibility experts last fall. Despite the potential gloom, it holds out hope for an optimistic vision of the future if people take needed actions. The letter says that a dramatic increase in research funding coupled with more effective ways to share information and distribute food could prevent a hunger crisis.

Brian Schmidt, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2011, said the need to dramatically increase food production in the coming decades is a huge challenge. He calls it a “destination with destiny,” but one that can be achieved with proper funding to enhance existing knowledge as well as global leadership.

“It is an imminently solvable problem. It is a problem that will affect billions of people in 25 years. It is a problem that to solve it, there are no losers, only winners,” Schmidt said in an interview. “All we have to do is do it.”

Schmidt said he hopes governments in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere can commit to solving the problem, but he thinks private groups like the Gates Foundation may need to take the lead in funding initial steps that will draw attention and prompt action by politicians.

The letter calls for “transformational efforts” such as enhancing photosynthesis in essential crops such as wheat and rice, developing crops that are not as reliant on chemical fertilizers and lengthening the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Cynthia Rosenzweig, a climate research scientist at NASA who won the World Food Prize in 2022, said in an interview that researchers are already making progress toward breakthroughs, but their work needs to be turbocharged with more funding and emphasis from world leaders.

“It’s not that we have to dream up new solutions,” Rosenzweig said. “The solutions are very much being tested but in order to actually take them from the lab out into the agriculture regions of the world, we really do need the moonshot approach.”

The term moonshot refers to an unprecedented effort, stemming from President John F. Kennedy’s call in 1962 for Americans to rocket to the Moon. Rosenzweig, noting she works for NASA, said meeting the food needs of a growing population will take the kind of commitment the U.S. made in achieving Kennedy’s goal of reaching the Moon.

“Look at how the scientists had to come together. The engineers had to be part of it. The funding had to come together as well as the general public,” she said. “That base of support has to be there as well.”