Reset The Table

The President of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Alvaro Lario, joins CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program Director Catilin Welsh to discuss the outcomes of recent milestone meetings for agricultural development financing, and how momentum from these events can help carry IFAD’s priorities into COP28. President Lario and Director Welsh explore the mechanics of IFAD’s innovative financing model and discuss the considerable commitments that countries around the world have already made towards IFAD’s upcoming replenishment cycle. They wrap up the conversation reflecting on President Lario’s achievements in the first year of his presidency—and what he aims to accomplish in the coming year.

In our first episode of Reset the Table season 3, Dr. Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), sits down with CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program Director Caitlin Welsh to explore food systems approaches to today’s challenges to food security and nutrition. Dr. Haddad discusses the interconnected relationships between water, nutrition, and agriculture, ways GAIN’s programming works to address them as we head into COP28—and what it’s like to discuss these issues with Prince William of Wales.

Caroline Smith DeWaal, Deputy Director of EatSafe at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), joins Caitlin Welsh to discuss the centrality of food safety to food and nutrition security, and how it is often overlooked in global food policy frameworks. Ms. DeWaal explains how EatSafe became a Feed the Future project addressing food safety in traditional food markets in Ethiopia and Nigeria. Ms. Welsh and Ms. DeWaal wrap up the final episode of Reset the Table’s second season discussing the relationship between climate change and food safety, and how this was addressed at the recent Codex Committee on Food Hygiene meeting in San Diego.

Lauren Phillips, Deputy Director of the UN FAO Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, and Anna Herforth, Senior Research Associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Principal Investigator of the Global Diet Quality Project, join Caitlin Welsh on this episode of Reset the Table. Dr. Phillips explains the growing gap between food insecurity among women and men, and how this gap was measured in the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). Dr. Herforth describes how the recent data released by the Global Diet Quality Project can be disaggregated to measure women’s dietary diversity around the world, and its relationship to food access and women’s roles in food systems.

Jo Puri, Vice President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) sits down with GFSP Director Caitlin Welsh to discuss IFAD’s priorities ahead of COP27. Ms. Puri explains how the UN agency measures its investments' impacts on indicators such as resilience, economic mobility, and nutrition in the rural communities it serves. Ms. Welsh and Ms. Puri wrap up the episode with a discussion on IFAD’s strategy to elevate the importance of biodiversity to global agriculture at COP27 in Egypt and at COP15, the Montreal Biodiversity Conference, in the coming months.

Kimberly Flowers, GFSP Senior Associate (Non-resident), sits down with Ertharin Cousin, CEO of Food Systems for the Future, former Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, to discuss the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health held in over 50 years. The White House Conference resulted in a National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Ms. Cousin, who sat on the advisory panel for the conference and national strategy, shared her perspectives on the conference’s outcomes and how we can ensure the strategy’s goals are monitored and met. Ms. Flowers and Ms. Cousin conclude the episode by discussing how public- and private-sector actors can engage with communities facing hunger and diet-related diseases.

Zitouni Ould-Dada, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Deputy Director in the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, sits down with GFSP Director Caitlin Welsh to discuss the potential of agri-food systems to offer solutions to the climate change and biodiversity crises. Mr. Ould-Dada explains the FAO’s new Strategy on Climate Change 2022-2031 and offers insights on its implementation, parameters for success, and role in upcoming COP27 discussions. Ms. Welsh and Mr. Ould-Dada wrap up the episode by offering simple steps listeners can take to help make food systems part of the solution to climate change and food waste.

Senior Research Fellows at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Joseph Glauber and David Laborde, join GFSP director Caitlin Welsh to discuss the Russia-Ukraine War’s impact on global agricultural markets, food prices, and food security. Mr. Glauber, also a Senior Adviser (Non-resident) with the CSIS Global Food Security Program, and Mr. Laborde kick off the episode by explaining how the war exacerbated pre-existing climatic pressures on food prices and debate applicability of the term “food shortage” to describe the current global food crisis. Our guests then consider the future of food prices and global grain supplies as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to limit the export of agricultural commodities from the Black Sea.

Hans Tung, Managing Partner at GGV Capital, and Fabián Gómez Gutiérrez, Founder and CEO of Frubana, sit down with GFSP director Caitlin Welsh to discuss the ways in which food tech can streamline the food supply chain to reduce food loss and waste while cutting costs for restaurants and consumers. Ms. Welsh and our guests examine how Frubana, a food tech company operating at 87,000 retailers across Brazil, Mexico, and Columbia, has cut waste along the food supply chain by developing software that enables direct communication and delivery between farmers and restaurants. Later, Mr. Tung and Mr. Gutiérrez reflect on the next decade of food tech innovations to help improve food supply and affordability for farmers, small business owners, and consumers.

Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, joined GFSP director Caitlin Welsh on this episode of Reset the Table to consider the role of biodiversity in securing global food supplies amid climate change, conflict, and other ongoing crises, and the role of gene banks in protecting biodiversity. Mr. Schmitz describes a visit to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, which safeguards millions of seed duplicates from thousands of gene banks around the world. Later, Mr. Schmitz and Ms. Welsh discuss how the Crop Trust’s operations address vulnerabilities in the global food system exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine War, and help protect agricultural biodiversity worldwide.

In this episode, GFSP director Caitlin Welsh and CSIS Africa Program director Mvemba Phezo Dizolele sit down with Melodine Jeptoo, researcher and coordinator at PlantVillage. PlantVillage is a non-profit research unit that uses AI technology, satellite systems, and field work to increase the yield and profits for millions of farmers in East Africa. They discuss the drivers of food insecurity in the region and explore how technology can be leveraged to build resilient food systems in East Africa. This episode is co-hosted and co-released with the CSIS Africa Program’s podcast, Into Africa.

In this episode, Jacob Kurtzer, director of the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda, sits down with GFSP director Caitlin Welsh to examine the nature of humanitarian emergencies today and factors that are shaping current humanitarian responses. Mr. Kurtzer considers how the sector can shift funding towards local partners and better integrate humanitarian considerations into U.S. foreign policy and national security strategies. Ms. Welsh and Mr. Kurtzer conclude the episode by discussing the changes he hopes to see for the humanitarian sector in the coming years.

In this episode, Tom Arnold, the Irish Government's Special Envoy for Food Systems, sits down with GFSP Director Caitlin Welsh to discuss Ireland’s food-systems approach to balancing its environment, health, and food-policy priorities. Mr. Arnold reviews Ireland’s experiences with famine, the development of its agriculture sector after World War II, and the policy priorities that have shaped Ireland’s strategy for a sustainable food system. Ms. Welsh and Mr. Arnold conclude the episode by discussing Mr. Arnold’s experience as the former coordinator for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the importance of strong, consistent leadership in food and nutrition security.

Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Rein Paulson, Director of the UN FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, join CSIS GFSP Director Caitlin Welsh and Humanitarian Agenda Director Jacob Kurtzer to discuss how the FAO’s response to the Russia-Ukraine War has evolved since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Ms. Bechdol explains the FAO’s coordination with Ukraine’s government and local partners to ensure agricultural livelihood support. Later, Mr. Paulsen describes areas of focus in Ukraine as well as the FAO’s response to ongoing global hunger crises exacerbated by Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports.

Gabriel Rugalema, regional director of the World Vegetable Center (World Veg), joins GFSP Senior Adviser (Non-resident) Julie Howard on this episode of Reset the Table to explore the role that African youth can play in reinvigorating vegetable production and consumption worldwide. Mr. Rugalema discusses World Veg’s efforts to engage women and youth in vegetable production and nutrition promotion, particularly in his home country of Tanzania and across the Southern and Eastern Africa region, and the importance of supporting the next generation of farmers to develop entrepreneurial skills.

Anders Dalsgaard (ICARS) and Paul Plummer (NIAMRRE), two experts in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), join GFSP senior associate Kimberly Flowers to explore solutions to AMR in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Dalsgaard and Dr. Plummer share global examples of previous successes in combatting AMR but note that sustained attention to the issue, and swift action, are required to meaningfully address this silent pandemic. Both experts stress that any solution must be context-specific and acutely aware of the disparity in resources between developed countries and low- and middle-income countries to address AMR.

Gregory Jaffe, director of the Project on Biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, joins Caitlin Welsh in this episode to share his expertise on biotechnology in the U.S. food system and the relevant policies surrounding bioengineered crops, commonly known as GMOs. Mr. Jaffe and Ms. Welsh discuss the public perception and misconceptions of bioengineered foods. Mr. Jaffe emphasizes the importance of consistent policies for identifying and labelling these food products and explains how upcoming regulations from the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law may or may not resolve ongoing conflicts about GMOs.

In this episode, Purdue’s Military Family Research Institute director Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth and CSIS Global Food Security Program director Caitlin Welsh discuss food security in the military community. Dr. MacDermid Wadsworth describes the various causes and stressors that are unique to veterans experiencing food insecurity, especially veterans living in rural areas. Dr. MacDermid Wadsworth and Ms. Welsh offer potential solutions to food insecurity among the veteran community and discuss the role of food pantries in responding to immediate food security needs. Dr. MacDermid Wadsworth also underscores the importance of collaboration among policymakers and researchers to address food security for current and future veterans.

Danielle Nierenberg, president and co-founder of Food Tank, joins GFSP senior associate Kimberly Flowers this episode to examine the role of technology in food systems. The conversation explores how innovation in technology could address climate change and respond to inequity challenges in our global food and agriculture systems. To that end, Ms. Nierenberg stresses the importance of including farmers in the development of such technology so innovations that seek to improve agricultural practices amid climate change also continue to meet the needs of farmers. Ms. Flowers and Ms. Nierenberg also discuss the ways in which Food Tank highlights stories of hope and success in food and agriculture systems. In doing so, Food Tank hopes to advocate for ambitious changes to food systems domestically and globally.

In this episode, Dr. Agnes Kalibata sits down with Kimberly Flowers, CSIS GFSP senior associate, to discuss the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit. As the UN secretary general’s special envoy, Dr. Kalibata provided key guidance and leadership at the summit, which was held on September 23. Dr. Kalibata explains the key issues affecting food systems that drove her to lead the summit and talks through the criticism the summit has received. She also evaluates President Biden’s $10 billion commitment to food security and describes what food security leadership should look like in the future.