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| Photo Credit: Stanford University |
By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Jeff Raikes, CEO Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke at Stanford's Global Food Policy and Food Security symposium February 10, 2011. The Topic was Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the Roles for Firms and Foundations, and the 2 Videos of his talk are below.
Jeff was brought up on a Nebraska farm, and discussed the challenge of providing more predictable farmer revenues in an environment dealing with Climate Change, Water Scarcity, and Economic Volatility.
Some farming is more intrusive on the environment and impacts food and water supplies, in addition to carbon emissions. Also, I don't believe that animals should be killed for the benefit of humans. However, Video 1 (of 2) below gives his perspective on Systems Approaches in making decisions.
I'm a big fan of using Systems Approaches in solving problems, where I used this in global high tech, logistics, government, and startup environments.
Jeff also mentions Catalytic Philanthropy as his goal, which is to raise the quality of people's lives, realize the interventions, and introduce successes in private and public sectors to scale up success. He also looks for the opportunities that make a great impact for the dollars spent such as using human vaccines in reducing disease.
Climate Change is also a big factor because the poorest farmers in the world will be most affected. He also mentions his own personal experience where a Lake he enjoyed as a child has disappeared in his lifetime.
He adds that Water Scarcity and Economic Challenges are also great factors to consider.
Video 2 discusses the importance of Women in Agriculture.
What are your thoughts on Jeff's Talk? Please share your Comments on this Post. Thanks!
Video (Part 1 of 2)
Video (Part 2 of 2)
