St. Louis, Missouri
June 19, 2009
The soybean checkoff has joined
forces with the World
Food Prize (WFP), an organization devoted to addressing
world hunger by meeting the food needs of a growing population.
Each year, the program inducts a new member into its Hall of
Laureates, currently being developed in Des Moines, Iowa. The
2009 WFP Laureate is Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, an Ethiopian scientist
working at Purdue University, whose sorghum hybrids resistant to
drought and weeds have dramatically increased production and
availability.
The WFP has been presented on an annual basis since 1986 in
honor of Dr. Norman Borlaug, whose development of improved wheat
varieties in the 1940s and 1950s has been credited with saving
millions of lives around the world. It’s been said that Dr.
Borlaug has saved more lives than anyone in history. The soybean
checkoff has goals similar to those of the WFP regarding the
alleviation of world hunger, and soy will play a vital role.
The United Soybean Board
(USB) will play a key role in establishing an educational wing
in the Hall of Laureates with specific focus on a biotechnology
module that will stress the value of biotechnology in increasing
production of U.S. soybeans. The soybean checkoff has committed
to develop and maintain a biotechnology kiosk in the educational
wing. USB is evaluating a number of ways to increase overall
soybean production, including forming a new biotechnology
initiative. Dr. Borlaug and the WFP are very pro-biotechnology,
so they are a natural fit with the USB program.
There are already numerous biotechnology improvements to
soybeans in the pipeline that will improve quality, quantity and
availability of soy protein and oil through pest resistance,
drought tolerance, yield increases, disease resistance,
digestibility, human health benefits and other compositional
enhancements. The soybean checkoff invests funds to accomplish
substantial progress in all these areas.
“Soy is a great source of protein for livestock, poultry,
aquaculture and humans,” says Chuck Myers, United Soybean Board
(USB) chairman and a soybean farmer from Lyons, Neb. “In order
to meet the increasing demand for protein, soybean farmers must
significantly increase soybean yields on an ongoing basis. Soy
will be integral to meeting the global demand for protein and
oil.”
The current global population is about 6 billion people, but is
expected to grow to 9 billion by 2030. Because of the rapidly
increasing population, demand for protein will double in the
next 40 years.
“The quality and quantity of soybeans needed to meet this
incredible population growth will be extremely difficult to
achieve without improvements made possible through
biotechnology,” says Myers. “If biotechnology is restrained or
discarded, many developing countries in the world that need and
want our soybeans could be facing increased occurrences of
starvation and famine.”
USB is made up of 68 farmer-directors who oversee the
investments of the soybean checkoff on behalf of all U.S.
soybean farmers. Checkoff funds are invested in the areas of
animal utilization, human utilization, industrial utilization,
industry relations, market access and supply. As stipulated in
the Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act,
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight
responsibilities for USB and the soybean checkoff.
Other news
from the World Food Prize |
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