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Point of View: Future Harvest Reaches Out
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Barbara Rose, director of operations at Future Harvest
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When they think of agricultural research, many people think only of efforts to produce a redder tomato or a sweeter ear of maize. They are unaware of the linkages between agriculture and global peace, prosperity, environmental renewal, health, and population issues. Two years ago the 16 centers of the CGIAR jointly created Future Harvest, a new entity designed to build public understanding of the role that international agricultural research plays in promoting a better life, not only for farmers, but for everyone around the world.
To find out about Future Harvest’s accomplishments and current undertakings, on the occasion of its second anniversary, Research Perspectives (RP) spoke with Barbara Rose, Director of Operations at Future Harvest.
RP: How has Future Harvest gone about promoting the work of international agricultural research to date?
Rose: To educate the public about the importance of international agricultural research for global peace, health, economic growth, population stabilization, and a renewable environment, Future Harvest is commissioning papers from leading institutions on these topics. We have enlisted influential public figures who are speaking out on issues related to agricultural research. And we are building new awareness of the issues by creating an identity recognized by people outside of international agriculture and development circles. In this way, we hope to attract new donors to support agricultural research on critical issues such as water scarcity and biodiversity.
How did you come up with the name Future Harvest?
We felt that creating an identity that people would respond positively to and remember was a critical first step. We proceeded carefully, hiring an award-winning design firm and using market research experts and techniques. We tested out different options using focus groups. People really like the name Future Harvest, and it is already gaining recognition. We hope that someday Future Harvest will be synonymous with international agricultural research.
What can Future Harvest do to disseminate the research results of the CGIAR centers that the centers cannot do for themselves?
Future Harvest puts the work of the centers in a broader context. We draw on their findings and those of other international agricultural research institutions to tell stories that relate their research to a variety of global issues. In this way, we are reaching out to new audiences. For example, we have created a state-of-the-art web site that posts the latest news on agricultural research. Through it, we hope to reach policymakers, news media, educators, students, and the general public.
You have enlisted an impressive group of public figures to act as ambassadors for agricultural research. Tell us about some of the activities they are engaged in.
The list includes former President Jimmy Carter, Francine Cousteau, Peter Doherty, Robert S. McNamara, Muhammad Yunus, Norman Borlaug, M. S. Swaminathan, Oscar Arias, Queen Noor of Jordan, and even Hootie and the Blowfish. That such a prestigious group would agree to serve as ambassadors is a testament to the importance of these issues. Future Harvest’s message really resonates with these people, and they want to help get the message out.
Our ambassadors are able to draw attention to issues that might not otherwise generate interest. For example, the International Herald Tribune recently printed an op-ed piece by President Jimmy Carter about the linkages between inattention to agriculture, poverty, and conflict in developing countries, based on a paper commissioned by Future Harvest.
Through Francine Cousteau, Calypso Log, a magazine put out by the Cousteau Society, recently ran a feature article on Future Harvest in general and about our first commissioned report in particular [To Cultivate Peace: Agriculture in a World of Conflict, by Indra de Soysa and Nils Peter Gleditsch of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway]. Calypso Log is primarily read by environmentalists, many of whom think of agriculture as being harmful to the environment. So this is a way of reaching out to them. Other ambassadors are reaching out in their own ways and in their own parts of the world.
IFPRI has also published a paper about the new wave of conflicts that are occurring in many parts of the world [see 2020 Vision Discussion Paper 24, Food from Peace: Breaking the Links between Conflict and Hunger, by Ellen Messer, Marc J. Cohen, and Jashinta D’Costa]. In To Cultivate Peace, the report commissioned by Future Harvest, how do the authors relate agriculture to peace?
The IFPRI paper links conflict to increased poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation. Our study finds that the new type of armed conflict has occurred mostly where agriculture is the mainstay. These conflicts are springing up from economic causes, not from ideological or political differences. The report makes the case that reduced investment in agriculture has actually been a root cause of conflict, generating grievances over land ownership and water and food scarcity, for instance.
What other papers and initiatives are in the works?
We are commissioning a paper to investigate the links between biodiversity and agriculture, which will be done by the World Conservation Union. Agriculture has often been blamed for reducing biodiversity, but there are strong indications that improved agriculture conserves biodiversity, not only of plants but all the way through the chain to large mammals.
We also hope to look at the role of agricultural research in disaster mitigation, along the lines of what four CGIAR centers are doing with their Seeds of Hope for Central America initiative, which is replenishing seed stocks that were lost to Hurricane Mitch and teaching farmers environmentally sustainable farming techniques that will help them to be less vulnerable to future natural disasters.
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