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FOOD SECURITY AND GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE DYNAMICS
1. FUNDAMENTALS OF FOOD SECURITY
Food security can be described as the ability to consistently obtain food for a population or
individuals at adequate and healthy levels. Fundamentally it entails that there is sufficiency of
food in relation to the population and that in the flow of time the proportions remain the same
and are not affected by some events which might occur or cyclical occurrences. Another key
factor is availability – all people and households, particularly the necessities, must have the
rights and economic standing to use available stocks through well-functioning market, support
networks, or food aid systems. The utilization brings concern to the issue of whether diets
offered are varied adequate and safe as to meet the nutritional needs necessary for health and
physical work throughout the life cycle. Hence, stability over time and across seasons in all the
three pillars is very important in as far as food security is concerned this to avoid making food
insecurity to be a long-term insecurity. Hence food security frameworks make use of the
concepts of availability, access, utilization, and stability. These concepts when studied in regional
and global agricultural systems and trade networks unravel the policies, investment, physical
supply systems and structures, environmental factors and knowledge systems and power
relations that shape or hinder the ability of food to get to plates. At the same time, the utilization
depends on such factors as availability of clean water, sanitation, health care, education and the
care practices of healthy nutrition. This complex systems approach sheds light on how, where
and why agricultural yield coalesces with economic factors, political commitments and
environmental and demographic processes to condition food insecurity dynamics. Essential
components include: soil health, and food value system innovation; physical access
Infrastructure that links farmers to traders, storage, transport and processing – Consumer
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purchase power, technologies and social protection systems, security of land rights, and ability to
cope with extreme climate variability and change. This is where the course focuses on the
relations, trade-offs, and synergies between the firms’ strategic capabilities and positions.
1.1. Defining food security and its dimensions
Food security can thus be described as the condition in which physical, social, and economic
access to sufficient, safe, acceptable and nutritious food is always available in order to meet the
preferred dietary needs for a healthy life. The indicators of food security involve the Food
Availability or Food Access, Food Utilization, and the Food Use or Food Quality, and also
Reliability. Food availability is the adequate quantities of suitable necessary types of food
available from domestically produced food, imported food, and food imports. The food should be
accessible by means of home production, storage, markets, households and public support and
distribution networks. Adequate income and physical access means that the households and the
individuals have the necessary money or other resources to buy or exchange for levels of an
appropriate food which are necessary to maintain a consumption pattern of adequate diets and
nutritional standards. This is coupled by the fact that individuals need to have physical access to
the technologies in question that ensure that they have proper logistics and supply chain for the
food. Food utilization is a proper biological use of food; it comprises knowledge of food, its
storage and processing, clean and portable water, as well as sufficient energy and nutrient intake,
basic nutrition and child and illness care. Lastly, both the other three dimensions need to remain
fairly constant over time – whereas, for instance, it is possible to have a population which is food
secure and yet, due to floods, a disease outbreak, civil strife, displacement, loss of a job or food
prices surging, the status of food security changes. This means that when the food balance only
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considers the conventional quantitative measures of food production and distribution without
taking into account these other essential facets, the impression given to the public is misleading.
1.2. Global food security indicators and measurement
Quantifying and assessing the state of GFS is essential to identifying the gaps that need to be
addressed and potential target areas. These include; proportion of undernourished population,
food deficit, percentage of dietary energy supply from cereals / root / tubers, average protein
adequacy ratio, average supply of animal protein, per capita real GDP, food price monitor, food
price risk and variation in food production per head. The changes in these indicators overtime
and across different regions give the information on the nutrition status, economic availability,
demand and accessibility of the food, the proportionality of macro and micro nutrients and the
stability of production and prices. For instance, the undernourishment rate is the proportion of
the population with a food energy consumption per adult per day that is less than the minimum
required intake. This shows the magnitude and the level of hunger in the world and where hunger
reduction could be effective. The depth of food deficit quantifies the amount of energy needed to
bring out undernourished people from hunger, which shows the extent of calorie-emaciation.
Such and other are traced by organizations such as the FAO for the purpose of gaining global
coverage and consistency. Nevertheless, measurement methodologies are still evolving to
enhance their accuracy and efficacy to detect elements such as nutritional value, agency, and
empowering attributes. The integration of the existing metrics with new ones that are focused on
sustainability, resilience, and stability will assist policymakers to make correct decision-making
on productivity, access, utilization, and agency goals. It is thus critical to have accurate and
concurrent measurement that can be compared across the world to aim developmental
interventions and monitor their effects, as well as to study the cascade effects of such
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interventions and other factors as climate change, conflicts and economic shocks on the world’s
vulnerable populations. In this case therefore, it is important that screening is conducted
consistently through validated instruments to help mobilize the action and resources required for
achieving food security.
1.3. Challenges to food security: climate change, population growth and resource scarcity
Climate change and population as well as resources scarcity form considerable threats to food
security in the 21st century. Increased temperatures and climate change in rainfall patterns have
however been realized to affect crop production and food security globally. On the other hand,
the population of the world is still growing at a very fast rate implying that there would be a
global human populace of over 9 billion that would require sustainable food supplies by the year
2050. To meet this up-growing food demand, more pressures will be exerted on basic agricultural
inputs most of which include arable land, water, and other inputs. There is evidence of a
progressive decrease in arable land per capita during past decades owing to such factors as soil
erosion, desertification, urbanization and conversion of land to other uses such as for pasture and
water. There is also increasing pressure on freshwater for irrigation use which is also coming
under scarcity pressures in many world regions from being depleted river flows, declining water
tables and pollutions from agricultural effluents. This is because, critical fertilizer resources like
phosphorus for example are expected to face future shortages as recoverable reserves that can be
exploited at high rates decrease. The three factors that aggravate each other are climate change
effects, growth in population, and decreases in resources available per head which pose
challenges to productivity and stability that will be required in the future decades in order to
reduce hunger and malnutrition. To avoid this setting, there will be a need to make good progress
in areas of investment in technologies that would ensure agricultural systems adapt to climate
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change, sustainable resource management policies, and multi-sectorial approaches that would
support livelihoods together with family planning. Alleviating these multifaceted and intertwined
threats to future food security will require strong commitments, collaboration and strategic
collaboration among local, national, and global actors.
1.4. Food sovereignty and local food systems
Food sovereignty involves the ability of people in a given region to decide how they need their
food systems to be. It also goes against such globalization concepts as key international
corporations’ domination in the production, distribution, and consumption of foods. Combining
local produce from farmers in their own regions with consumers can create a system of
supplying healthy, culturally familiar food. Furthermore, the food produced through short supply
chains is easy to trace and provides a clear account of the effects of the food production process
on the environment and society.
Building stronger local and regional food systems helps support the local economy and
community’s self-sufficiency. Dependence on foods that are transported from far away keeps
communities vulnerable to shocks that affect the global supply of food such as high fuel prices,
disasters, pandemic etc. Food production and processing affects in local communities offer a
hedge against these shocks. It also embodies a flow of money within the community, which
allows supporting local economy.
However, the local food systems also have their drawbacks for instance in feeding people with
all the necessary nutrients, this is especially when practiced in densely populated areas with
minimal land area for the practice. This implies that local, regional, and global supply chains
must be effectively harmonized with fair distribution to establish food security for everybody.
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Strengthening the agricultural productive assets and technologies for increasing productivity may
help to build the capacities of communities to meet their food needs adequately and earn incomes
through market transactions.
A number of factors such as land tenure rights, access to seeds, credit, extension services and
markets are critical in defining community-based food systems. Democracy and farmer civic
engagement with focus to small farmers, women, youths and other disadvantaged assists in local
food security. Food system transformation, which involves redistributing power relations in favor
of democratized food systems, focusing on local sovereignty of choices that affect the wellbeing
of communities dependent on food and agriculture systems, is vital to achieving fair, resilient
and culturally diverse food system for every population in the future.
1.5. The role of technology in enhancing food security
New ways of farming and crop management that have emerged in technology may help improve
food security through yield, mitigation of loss, and minimizing wastage. Precision agriculture is
the use of accurate information and controlled technology such as sensors, satellite imagery, and
Artificial Intelligence in the application of inputs. Advanced equipment, particularly tractors
furnished with GPS tracking, can plant seeds more accurately and apply fertilizer or pesticides
only in areas where they are required, thereby minimizing wastage. Automated weather stations
control the amount of water and nutrient that is applied to the plant through the soil moisture
sensors. Satellite imagery is used to monitor crop development and their conditions, with the
potentiality of identifying problems before they occur. In combination, these precision
technologies improve the inputs for which there are specific conditions in the field and increase
yields with lesser resource consumption. It is recommended to use better preservation systems
like metal silos or hermetic bags to reduce post-harvest losses, and better transportation systems
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and storage conditions that retain cool temperatures. Supply chain monitoring technologies
enable tracking of the location and conditions of consignments are checked to enhance quality.
Techniques like CRISPR enable rapid enhancement of crop yields, crop varieties that are climate
compatible. Agricultural GM crops may also be bio fortified to increase their nutrient per unit
mass. Technologies such as vertical farming, hydroponic farming, aeroponics provide better crop
yields at lower rates in small areas. Since the projected population increase and climate changes
exert pressure on agricultural production, the development and implementation of technologies
that will give better productivity, resilience, and efficiency will be a necessity to support food
security in the global and local level at present and in the future.
2. GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE SYSTEMS
Agriculture trade is a way through which farmers in different parts of the world supply food to
the different population that relies on food produced in other regions in a convenient and
affordable way. These trade links are crucial because some regions experience chronic deficits in
staple production while others maintain regular surpluses and food security. Modern agricultural
trade processes feature numerous arrangements, including bilateral trade agreements, preferential
access arrangements, commodity agreements and global markets. Some of the major products
that are imported or exported include staple foods like wheat, rice and corn; oilseed crops like
soybean; meat and dairy products; and luxury and labor-intensive products like coffee, cocoa,
fruits and vegetables. An increase of trade openness and liberalization reforms, transport
advancements and specialization in global agriculture over the last couple of decades have
increased the structural trade relationship or dependence between buyers and sellers but have
only deepened export control among a few dominant suppliers such as the U. S., Brazil and
Thailand. While on the part of the demand side, the rapid income growth and diet westernization
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in transition economies are stimulating agricultural import demand. These dynamics precipitate
more reliance on others for global food supply while at the same time, they bring about
fluctuations from currency fluctuations, export banning and incongruent biofuel policies
disrupting crop markets. Ensuring stability while increasing people’s access and actors’ openness
of the global agricultural trade rulemaking has thus far remained difficult, but at least WTO with
its 164 members has a place for continual renegotiation of terms of access. Therefore, the global
architecture of the architecture of supporting flows of traded farm goods shall pointedly
determine how transformative, sustainable, and inclusive the world’s food systems can be
towards fulfilling the nutritional security needs of various regions within the 21st Century
Agricultural Economy.
2.1. Evolution of international agricultural trade
Agricultural trade has undergone significant change during the last century, in response to
globalization, technological advances and changes in food and agricultural policies, consumers’
eating habits and environmental issues. During the beginning of the twentieth century
agricultural trade was considerably more regional and focused on staples. No country was a large
exporter of this product, however colonial links did influence exports from some of the
territories. The postwar period was characterized by structural changes in policy based on
Internationalization, food-production and Inward processing which limited the flow of goods
across countries. That said, during the following decades agricultural trade liberalization and
market-orientation have been successfully advanced through domestic and multilateral as well as
regional trade liberalization processes. Decrease of tariffs and other trade barriers, shifts in
transport technologies, foreign direct investments, and trends in the supply system have allowed
agricultural raw products and processed food products to move around the global market with
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increasing facility. At the same time our customers have become not only more international but
reliability and variety are appreciated higher in the extending urban consumption. Likewise, new
geographical patterns of production and the issues of climate change required a reconsideration
of conventional supply chains. Lifestyle changes due to variations in climatic conditions can
disrupt plans for production, production rates and costs within a day. These interrelated factors
result in an agricultural trading landscape today where elements of geopolitics are important, but
not all-determining, where flexibility and reliability complement size and effectiveness, and
where there is an increasing demand for uniqueness and specificity among end-users worldwide.
2.2. Key players in global agricultural markets
The major stakeholders involved in the international and multilateral agricultural trade include
major exporting countries, importing regions, global agribusiness firms, commodity traders and
international organizations. The major exporters of staple food products include USA, Brazil,
Argentina, Canada, Australia, Thailand, the European Union including the major commodities
such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, palm oil and sugar. This means that China’s fast-growing
economy has paved way for the country to become the leading importer of many farm products.
Other chief importing areas are South Asia, SEA, North Africa, and the Middle East that have
huge food deficiencies and depend on food imports to feed their population. On the other hand,
companies producing inputs for agriculture like equipment makers like John Deere and CNH
Industrial for tractors and implements and agrochemicals like Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, and
Corteva provide technologies and goods to farmers across the globe. International commodity
Traders group of ABCD that includes Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill TNC and Louis
Dreyfus Company are importantly enable grain, oilseed, sugar, coffee and cotton trade across the
globe. These firms coordinate the movement of crops through their global interconnected storage
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and processing facilities and transportation systems from producers in the food producing
countries, to the consumers in importing countries. Last but not the least, influential international
governance institutions such as WTO, the World Bank and the UN agencies set the patterns;
policies and programs defining the scope and direction of agricultural trade globally thus
exerting major influence on national food security strategies mostly in the Third World countries.
As to how these diverse private sector companies and public sector institutions assert and
manage power within today’s evolving commercial and geopolitical environment, it is this that
sustains trade stability and specific terms of market access for LMN countries, preparedness
against future potential volatility, and the aspiration of providing sufficient, accessible and
affordable food to growing populations in diverse local and regional settings around the world.
2.3. Trade policies and their impact on food security
Politics of trade between the governments of countries and the international organizations plays a
role that cannot be ignored in the food security in different countries. Tariffs and quotas that are
put in place to restrict imports of food products or increase their cost are typically designed to
protect local farmers and food producers. However, these policies usually result in higher prices
for consumers and a general shrinkage of not only, but rather a general worsening of food
security, particularly among the poor. For instance, import taxes on staple foods that some
countries put in place hinder the accessibility to the groups on the ground that have been
identified as requiring assistance with basic foods that are scarce. At the same time, subsidies in
developed countries that are established for domestic farmers help these farmers export crops
with low prices and make a significant loss to the small holder farmers in the developing
countries who cannot afford to offer their produce at these artificially low prices. This dynamic
has been evident under NAFTA when American corn, which is produced with the help of
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subsidies, has dumped the Mexican market, leading to disembowelment of small farmers and
indebtedness. In this context, the reduction of trade distortions could lead to increased freedom
of food commodity trade around the world, thus enabling excess production from food rich
regions to easily supply the shortage zones while at the same time allowing domestic food
producers to still prosper by directing their efforts towards where they have the most advantage,
as revealed by comparative advantage. Therefore, there is a potential to enhance the trade and
economic cooperation through the reform of the trade policies based on the multinational and
regional trade agreements and increase resilience to the food crises especially in the vulnerable
parts of the Southern hemisphere. Juggling between national and international responsibilities
and obligations becomes challenging but crucial for creating sound, ethical and responsible
international trade of agricultural commodities that could help improve global food access and
ensure the primary human right of access to healthy, nutritious food at a basic level.
2.4. World Trade Organization and agriculture
WTO’s role in agricultural trade liberalization is examined since WTO was formed in 1995,
WTO is at the core of global trade system and is responsible for formulating the rules and
regulating the standard and agreements of trade in agriculture products, it has a crucial role in
determining agricultural trade policies across the world. Another important area of the WTO has
been liberalizing agriculture by cutting subsidies, tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade through
various rounds and agreements, some of the key agreements impacting the liberalization of
agricultural trade include the Agreement on Agriculture which provided for staged cuts on
agricultural subsidies and market access, and more contemporary deal like the 2013 Bali Package
involving matters such as food security stockholding and export credit agencies. Trade
liberalization in agriculture involves a progressive elimination of trade barriers and market
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distortions within the WTO system in the quest to liberalize agricultural trade and open up
market competition to world agricultural products. Nevertheless, it is an issue that has been a
subject of much debate and controversy between developed countries seeking to gain increased
access to export markets in the developing world and the latter countries more sensitive to the
need to protect domestic farmer and food security interests. There still are some divergences
among WTO members on the depth and the speed of further liberalization of agricultural trade,
however, WTO has introduced the multilateral governance structure and basic rules for
agricultural trade for improvement of liberalization, although the reforming process is gradual
and minimal. The WTO plays a central role in the global regulation of agricultural trade and farm
food exports and it is crucial to comprehend its operations and constraints in evaluating world
food systems.
2.5. Regional trade agreements and their implications
Trade in agriculture has been liberalized through the entry into of regional trade agreements
(RTAs) in the past two decades. Although the WTO pursues multilateral nondiscrimination in
trade liberalization, many countries have resorted to RTAs for negotiating preferential market
access to agricultural products within particular geographical locations. Notable cases are the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the European Union’s Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP). These sorts of agreements seek to increase the current level of
agricultural trade within the regions by eliminating the common form of trade barriers such as
tariffs and quotas. Nevertheless, in RTAs there are also other new dynamics that can harm other
trading partners and the global markets.
For example, while NAFTA has had a positive impact on the growth of the North American agri-
food trade, its trade liberalization elements and export subsidies have resulted in the replacement
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of Latin American agricultural exports that were previously imports to the US market. This
shows how policies that tend more towards regionalism can help redirect flow of trade away
from non-members, it illustrated a phenomenon of trade diversion which is characteristic of
preferential trading arrangements. Furthermore, RTAs focus the ability to negotiate power within
members, regardless of their ability to use this power to control non-members in multilateral
negotiations. While the CAP bears the stamp of a coordinated EU position, it does not
complement development food security agendas in WTO forums. Therefore, despite acting as
stimuli to regional trade flows, RTAs may pose a threat to fair trade policy formulation between
industrial and developing countries at the multilateral level.
Moreover, they produce adverse effects on global agriculture since they encourage their member
countries to produce more than what is required in the market. For instance, because of the CAP
that awarded farmers with assured preferred market access to the EU market, farmers oversupply
the dairy production capacity by indulging in minimum price schemes. This pushed imports from
other competing producers such as New Zealand and brought about an element of instability with
regard to price ranges within the shielded regional market whenever supply outstripped demand.
Hence, while promoting regional trade integration through RTAs contributes to food security by
frustrating export opportunities for non-members and producing fluctuations in international
food price. Its implications are not only felt by members but they go on to affect global
agricultural trade systems and interactions.
3. MARKET DYNAMICS AND FOOD PRICES
Volatile factors affecting supply and demand in both international and local markets for
agricultural produce exert pressure on price that is felt by consumers. At the supply side, food
supply is influenced by factors such as weather conditions, out breaks of diseases and pests
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affecting crops and livestock, labor and agricultural inputs including seeds and fertilizers, water
and land availability for irrigation, transport cost and population adoption of new production
technologies. The demand on farm commodities fluctuates following alterations in consumer’s
income, preference and demographics at the national and global level as the populations expand
and become urbanized particularly across Asia and Africa. The documentation of short-term food
supply and demand shocks reveal that price fluctuations and hikes year after year contributes to
food insecurity. Other factors that interfere with market structures include government policies
on trade, subsidies, stockholding, and biofuels influence market of staple grain, dairy products,
meat/fish, and fruits and vegetables in a way that transmits price shocks across borders. This is
because, the non-commercial participants especially financial players in the agricultural futures
markets have been observed to cause price overshooting because their herding behavior tends to
amplify price bubbles and subsequently trigger price crashes. Climate change phenomena that
result in harsh weather conditions are increasing incidences of crop loss and death of livestock,
and thus contributes to food price volatility. Relationships between prices received for
agricultural raw materials and prices paid by consumers for processed and packaged foods may
not be perfect due to price transmission lags and supply chain that may buffer farm level effects
on income. Market structures and economic theories attempt to balance demand for resources
and needs as well as flow of goods and setting prices; however, real world imperfections and
ossification can distort signals in ways that disrupt availability and access – revealing the
volatility of food commodity markets.
3.1. Supply and demand in global food markets
The fluctuations in the food markets are therefore influenced by factors relating to supply side
and demand side. On the side of supply, the following factors affect the accessibility of
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agricultural commodities for trading purposes. Flu, pest and diseases, trade and production
disruptions arising from conflict, export bans by producing countries, and sudden increases in the
cost of inputs also limit supply. Lack of infrastructure to support large production and
transportation constraints to adequate production of food and inadequate means of transportation
to get food from production areas to ports all constrain the capacity of the suppliers to guarantee
timely supplies of food to international buyers. On the other hand, the increasing populations,
shifts in diets, the growing use of bio fuels, the accumulation in stock by some key importing
countries and the speculation by investors help to drive the growth of demand for food by the
entire world. In simple terms, when there is high demand for food across the globe and supply
from the international market fails to meet this demand, the prices of food worldwide go up.
However, if weather conditions are good or if new technology increases production, then yields
are above demand, and this leads to a drop in prices. This volatility is further magnified by the
fact that agricultural goods are price inelastic in the short-run – producers cannot quickly respond
by changing the planted acreage to reflect changing prices between seasons. Policies that affect
international trade also have a central role to play in either dampening or magnifying food price
fluctuations in global markets to local markets. The export bans that were introduced by
exporters during the 2007-08 and 2010-11 food price peaks restricted the global supply and
deepened the price increase. Some of the effects of tariffs that nations use to protect their
consumers from inflating global prices include the following. While these actions offer a
transient fix, they remain detrimental to the long-term growth of production. Although free trade
allows for efficient provision of food resources through free price mechanism and arbitrage
activity, governments often interfere in agricultural trade for political and social and economic
reasons with underlying implications in international markets. Hence, the proper supply and
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demand planning across the globe is vital to buffer food prices in order to enhance food
securities goals.
3.2. Price volatility and its effects on food security
Examining the trends and realignments in the global agricultural commodity markets over the
past decade and reveals that the price volatility has triggered food security concerns for countries
that rely on imports. Year-on-year fluctuations in food prices lead to instability and increase the
challenges of setting appropriate national budgets for food purchases. Developing nations
experience poor access to adequate food imports and low purchasing power due to high prices,
leading to increased hunger and malnutrition. When prices fall to unanticipated low levels,
domestic incentives are eroded right at the time that more is required to boost productivity
growth rates. Smallholder farmers bear the burden of declining farmgate prices that lag behind
any adjustments in the world market prices. Lower profits discourage necessary purchases of
better seeds, fertilizers, and equipment that developing nations have to procure time and again to
improve production capacity and standards. The women small holder farmers who cultivate most
of the staple food crops in the needy countries are especially affected. Fluctuations in market
prices also reduce the ability of private investors to invest in storage infrastructure,
transportation, wholesaling, and food processing where such investments are critical in building
capacity for food storage. Under ordinary circumstances, these groups lack adequate and
nutritious food; thus, erratic, drastic price swings that cause reduced market stability have to be
managed through National, Regional and Global policy adjustments.
3.3. Speculation and financialization of food commodities
Higher levels of speculators and investors in futures, which is a process of financialization of
food commodity markets, has been an issue of concern and analysis for its effects on price risk.
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Initially, the commodity futures markets were established to give the actual producers of
commodities such as farmers, an opportunity to manage risks associated with prices of their
produce; Nevertheless, the recent markets have increasingly become dominated by financial
investors who are in it for the speculative gains. Notably, the liberalization of trade in futures in
commodity markets, developing interest in commodities as an investment instrument in
conjunction with other markets, and higher correlation with other financial markets and biofuel
production links have fostered speculative fund in agricultural commodity derivatives. Several
papers that were researched on the different times and different regions have given different
results on whether this has in effect increased the volatility in the spot prices of the basic foods
such as the wheat, rice and corn over the last decade. In some research, it has been observed that
there is not much evidence against futures markets speculation to food price volatility and most
of the price variations are as a result of supply and demand factors only. Nevertheless, some
critics suggest that the higher turnover of fear of early profiteering and flight capital that cycles
through regenerative markets does pass volatility to physical commodity spot markets, therefore,
the controversy persists on the optimum position and specific mode of impact. However, there
are valid fears regarding its repercussions on food security since erratic prices could have a far
reach on producers due to the volatility of the prices and also directly affect the purchasing
power and accessibility of sufficient and affordable quantities of food for consumers. That is
why, contemporary regulations are directed on combating any adverse speculative bubbles while
not fully eliminating liquidity in commodity derivatives’ markets which serves as risk mitigation.
However, even to this date, it is still relatively hard to strike this balance between financialization
and fundamental factors due to complications in attributing specific effects to the two elements.
Further policy and structural changes in the area of market openness, position limits and the
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diversification of participants in the food commodity markets may also go a long way in
reducing any speculation and volatility that may hit the food commodity prices and accessibility.
3.4. Export restrictions and their consequences
Export restrictions placed by the major food exporting countries make a large impact to the
global food prices and food insecurity. Through export taxes or by banning exports through
quotas, or even prohibited exports, countries that have shortfalls in domestic production or
higher domestic demand dampen supply availability in the global market. This leads to
fluctuation in international food prices and a consequent increase in their price. For instance, in
the 2007/2008 food crisis that saw drought and supply hitches to cereals, both India and Vietnam
limited exports of rice to the international market to feeds its people. It also quickened the
increase in world rice prices by a significantly large measure. banning and limiting the exports of
essential goods makes them scarce particularly to those nations that rely heavily on imports,
most of which are developing countries that have sensitive populations. These either cause
higher and unstable food import bills which hampers the scarce foreign exchange earnings
required to import needs such as oil, medicine and capital equipment. This leads to an increase in
hunger and poverty as food prices are raised beyond the purchasing power of Net-Buyer
households who spend a considerable proportion of their income on food. Export restraints also
hinder production in the exporting country Export restraints also have an impact on the exporting
country. Since it closes domestic markets to world prices, export restrictions eliminate the desire
for farmers to engage in production enhancement efforts. A reduction in global supply due to
export hindrance in the long-term can offset the localized domestic food security benefits of
export controls. These measures distort principles of free and fair trade since exports are
negatively affected. Many of the agricultural exporters are member to WTO which do not allow
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restrictions in quantities on exports. Restrictions on exports lead to the depreciation of the
multilateral trading system. Liberalization of Japan’s rice import from import quotas is a move to
reduce distortions in agricultural trade. During tough time, which may arise due to various
reasons, there is always a tendency to ban exportation of some good. Reactions akin to panic can
actually contribute to the speed at which prices increase so must be moderated with longer time
horizons in mind. Export controls offer a temporary buffer for the exporting country, however the
transfer of higher price impacts other fragile importing countries at a much faster rate. Increased
openness in trade policy responses and the use of international food reserves may help dampen
panic-type effects. International collaboration is needed to reduce the negative food security
effects of export disruptions during a time of food export competition in the international
markets.
3.5. Buffer stocks and price stabilization mechanisms
Buffer stocks and price stabilization policies are policies that governments should employ in a
bid to reducing the volatility in markets for agricultural food commodities so as to enhance food
security. The term buffer stocks refer to an emergency stock which is accumulated at a time
when there is a surplus production of certain edibles like grains so that these are available in the
markets in lean season. This essentially iron’s out volatility of the available food and helps to
reduce cases of food inflation that have severe consequences on food security most especially to
the food insecure groups within a given society. As governments need to purchase and
accumulate large stocks of foodstuff to run the buffer stock programs, the initial costs involved
include the acquisition of storage facilities, logistics and trading skills. Several countries
including India, China, and Indonesia are operating on policy measures of maintaining strategic
grain reserves for improving the food security in the country. This apart, governments employ
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trade policies and market interventions as the second way of stabilizing prices of agricultural
commodities. Import tariffs can be increased when the home supplies are scarce and prices high
so as to encourage importation or be lowered when there is a glut in the home market to protect
the local producers. Export restrictions are also occasionally employed to shield home markets
from sharp price volatility; this was witnessed in the 2007/08 food crisis when several grain
exporting nations put export bans in place. Although this gives the consumers a respite in the
short term, the economists explain that export bans discourage production in the long term. This
is inclusive of direct producer price supports and consumer food subsidies as other forms of price
stabilization which however come at a high fiscal cost. This is an area of free market where
instead of the futures trading, the commodity buyers and sellers use financial instruments to
hedge price risks associated with agricultural product. However, given that speculation may lead
to futures trading by increasing the amount of capital flowing through the exchanges, food prices
might be influenced negatively. Considering all these challenges, it is perhaps only feasible to
achieve a combination of buffer stocks, trade measures, safety nets, and, at the least, regulated
futures markets to help stabilize food commodity prices. Equal economic access to sufficient,
nutritious food at a constant price across space and time is crucial to avoid excluding any
persons.
4. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND TRADE
Eco-efficient agriculture that maintains the health of nature and the soil base while sustaining
agricultural productivity and profitability is critical for long-term food security and efficiency of
beneficial agricultural trade. Conservation tillage, crop rotations, intercropping, and cover
cropping enhance the ability of the soil to retain nutrients, thus increasing the fertility of the
farmland. These regenerative methods promote improved water storage, water infiltration, and
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water cycling, which decrease erosion and flood intensity and improve water availability for
plants during extended dry periods due to climate change. Other factors that support ecological
stability include Integrated Pest Management and decrease utilization of synthetic fertilizer
which is done through Precision Agriculture techniques. At a systems level the diverse
landscapes on which crops and livestock are produced are, closed nutrient cycles are developed,
soil organic matter and biodiversity are improved. Smallholder farmers in particular need
recommendations that are sensitive to Agro ecological zones and that is why they can benefit
from such recommendations. Building the foundation of rural economy and food security is
therefore important to realize economic growth as well as political stability. Nevertheless, most
of the farmers possess inadequate capital, information and suitable motivation that would enable
them to alter the traditional and intensive monoculture production systems of the 20th century
efficient specialization and trade liberalization. Competitiveness is the key that can transform
sustainable production into a reality through proper policy formulation and investments in the
public sector. ICT innovations that enable producers are linked to information; inputs and fair
markets also enable the scaling up of best practices that are context-specific. Lastly, it shows that
it is the ability of countries and regions to feed themselves with support sustainable agricultural
systems and to engage in high value international markets at the same time that poses the
question of governance across scales. To correct for this distortion, trade policy reforms for
internalizing externalities of the environment would be appropriate. Global food security in the
future in a world that is likely to be characterized by limited resources and volatile systems needs
a reconfiguration of relations between situated food knowledge and technology and between the
global and the local on one hand and open borders on the other.
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4.1. Sustainable farming practices and their global adoption
Organic farming entails several practices and techniques that will enhance production and
productivity as it protects the natural resources as well as minimizing harm on the
environment. Some of these include the use of organic inputs to replenish soil nutrient, integrated
control of pests and diseases, crop rotation to avoid using up nutrients or building up the pest
resistance, controlled application of inputs to achieve better yield and practices that aim at
conserving soil, water, and other forms of life. The institutionalization of sustainable practices in
major agricultural producing countries and at large at the farm level and at the policy level,
however, has been seen to be constrained by several challenges. But, in the recent past, there has
been a call for setting high sustainability goals in the international framework of agricultural
production. For instance, United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, with the goal of
better food production systems by the year 2030, mean that a 70% increase of food production
must come from the same area of farmland and with fewer inputs. It is argued that the concept of
SIPs can unlock these outcomes through innovation such as enhancing farmer access to data and
tools, adopting digital technologies to reduce food waste, developing climate-resilient crops and
livestock, utilizing circular economy and recognizing the worth of ecosystems services. Key
players such as governments, corporates and civil society organizations are actively involved in
the process of change at the global level – developing policy agendas for Agro-ecology, running
challenge prizes for innovations in sustainable agriculture and organizing rural women as change
makers. There is also the element of financial rewards – sustainability certification can be a way
to negotiate for a higher price in the niche global markets, and blended finance models mean that
risks of shifting towards sustainable agriculture can be divided between various actors. At a large
scale, therefore, it is necessary to have coherent national strategies and plans for long-term
support through R&D and infrastructure investments within a multi actor and farmer capacity
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building approach and tracking impacts while improving system efficiency. In conclusion,
although the sustainable farming faces adoption hurdles, targeted initiatives from the
governments, and effective leadership by the global initiatives present opportunities to redefine
the practices at the rate that fully responds to the sustainability needs in agriculture and trade that
are necessary for the climate change mitigation.
4.2. Organic and fair-trade certifications in international markets
Organic and fair-trade agriculture are two approaches to agriculture that attempt to
simultaneously strive for the humane specific goals of environmentally conscious and socially
equitable forms of food production. Thus, international certifications foster the delivery of
sustainably-produced products to increasingly global and differentiated markets that value its
standards of environmental or labor friendliness. Organic certification means that food and other
agriculture products have not used synthetic chemicals for their growth meant for pesticides and
fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones, GMOs etc., but grown using practices like crop
rotation, using manure, using natural predators for pests. For instance, the United States has a
legal framework known as the National Organic Program while the European Union, has Council
Regulation and other nations have put into place their definitions and certification for organic
labels. There is also certain standard that international fair –trade certifications entail for instance
fair price, acceptable working conditions for human rights, resource efficiency, and community
development funds for small holder farmers. Examples of these programs comprise those related
with Fairtrade International and the Rainforest Alliance. Environmental certifications can attract
higher prices in the higher-value exporting markets and create access to new markets for
producers from the LMICs. However, there are risks involved in certification such as higher
costs, cumbersome record keeping, variations in regulations accredited from one country to the
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other and lack of consumer awareness. Uptake also only targets a list of cash crops, such as
coffee and cocoa, without focusing on staple crops that are fundamental to the existence of
smallholder farmers and food security in developing countries themselves. Designing more
suitable policy settings and institutional frameworks with regard to making the organic and fair-
trade certifications not only attainable but also affordable and meaningful to broader producer
base and diverse agricultural systems should remain a key agenda if such programs are to
effectively advance the sustainable trade and development objectives in the future.
4.3. Environmental impacts of agricultural trade
Drawing from the analysis of the global agricultural trade, it can be deduced that this trade has
both virtues and vices as far as the environment is concerned. On the one hand, there is the belief
that trade benefits the countries that can produce crops best suited for the climatic and soil
conditions in those countries, this reduces the use of environmentally unfriendly practices like
the use of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Specialization also ensures that the
limited resources such as land and water are not used to produce food which can in fact be
imports. However, the emphasis on specialization may result in more concentration on the
production of a single crop which may compromise the soil fertility, pollute water through
chemicals used in farming, and is not hospitable to other species. Hence the expansion of
farmland to support exportation can also lead to deforestation, especially among the developing
countries with little or no strict measures on environmental conservation.
Like fossil fuel consumption for vehicle transportation, the transportation of globally traded
foods also incurs a high carbon cost through the use of fossil fuel in sea transport, refrigeration,
and storage. When meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables are produced in one region and transported
to another region for export to global markets, the carbon emissions from such transport
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contributes to climate change. It is also important that through diversifying food markets, locally
and regionally produced foods be encouraged to reduce transport emissions. However, this
global trade ensures that food is distributed to all parts of the world, maintains food stocks and
controls prices such that it reduces food wastage. According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization, up to a third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted, or, at least,
spoiled in the process of transport, processing or storage. Therefore, increasing investment on
storage, transport and distribution arrangements for traded foods can reduce food waste.
Trade also leads to the development of invasive pest species through transport by cargo ships to
new ecological niches, it is necessary for countries to employ biosecurity measures such as
scanning and regulating what enters the country by way of plant products in order to avoid
introducing these pests which are extremely destructive to local species as well as agricultural
production. Introduction and application of such measures demands cooperation between various
regulatory authorities across the regions and the entire globe. Some of the intergovernmental
organizations that promote cooperation on invasions by species, as well as on plant and animal
diseases, are the IPPC. Two major objectives set for the international agricultural trade;
enhancing market access to encourage supplies and improving environmental quality to
discourage the adverse effects on land use change, climate change emissions, loss of biological
diversity, and introduction of invasive species in traded agricultural products and during
transportation will need positive policy and technology changes. It will also require commitment
and enforcement of environmental standards in agriculture between trading partners and
monitoring mechanisms.
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4.4. Balancing productivity and sustainability in export-oriented agriculture
Agriculture that is export-oriented has been widely known to have stimulated economic growth
and development in many countries, notwithstanding, one major issue that may come with this
kind of system of agriculture is the issue of sustainability of the environment. The problem of
sustainable agriculture is that intensive farming methods to increase production have adverse
effects on the environment; for example, soils are depleted of their fertility, there are low levels
of species diversities, and agrochemicals have negative impacts on the environment. When the
biophysical capacity of the terrestrial environment to support agriculture is coupled with the need
to provide sufficient food and fiber for the expanding human and livestock populations, export-
oriented agricultural sectors are faced with the twin pressures of keeping production rates high
and maintaining competitive access to global markets whilst reducing their impacts on the
environment.
Some methods such as conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, and precision
agriculture are climate smart that can increase resilience and reduce greenhouse gases emissions
while not affecting productivity. Another way in which countries could possibly continue to reap
economic benefits while extracting more value from the inputs would be crop diversification and
strengthening of value chains where produce is processed locally before exporting higher value
goods and services. Export agriculture dominants require to unbundled from energy or resource
intensive monocultural production systems used to maximize simple measures of yield efficiency
toward more mixed systems that are optimized for multiple performance endpoints including
nutritional, economic, and environmental.
From taxes on fertilizers and pesticides to encouragement of regenerative practices and produce
labeling, policy tools could eventually lead to the reorientation of export agriculture. Well-
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developed import markets also have an important role to play by setting sustainability
benchmarks, rather than simply offering to purchase produce without being aware of the ‘costs of
trade’ on the environment. Overall, it is essential to note that achieving a sustainable and
effective change towards greening the food value chain globally is only possible through the
cooperation of producers, exporters, consumers, and governments in both the source and
destination countries. The lessons of the sustainable development perspective should ensure
comprehensive strategies that would enable export agriculture to bring forth profitability and at
the same time, protect the welfare of producers and stability of ecosystems in the export
agriculture sector.
4.5. The role of smallholder farmers in global food systems
Smallholder farmers are those farmers who operate on relatively small holdings normally below
10 hectares, and they are a vital component of the structure of the world’s food systems
especially in the developing world. It is calculated that around 475 million households depend on
smallholder farming worldwide and the precarious food security of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa
region depends on them for about 80% of their food needs, produced by small farms. These
smallholders play crucial roles in domestic and regional food supply chains, and increasing their
productivity and market access is critical for better food and nutrition security and higher
incomes for poorer countries. However, smallholders are currently beset by structural challenges
that limit productivity increase and their incorporation into value chains, including input and
technology acquisition, credit, markets and knowledge. For smallholder systems to intensify
production in a sustainable manner through agroecological practices, while also receiving access
to market is crucial for meeting food demands with stable population growth without land
conversion. Another theme suggests that enhancing organizations of smallholder farmers can
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help with required services and ensure better negotiating positions for markets. Policies that seek
to assist smallholders in accessing international markets are important – this implies that there
should be minimal market intervention for agriculture product while there should be increased
provision of public goods to the smallholders across the world. Natural disasters are unavoidable
and have a more extensive impact on small farmers, which requires global climate change
initiatives and increased availability of climate resilient resources. In the end, the right
developmental policies and programs for smallholders – from sustainable intensification,
organizational development, to trade liberalization – can enable the tasks set for them in
enhancing domestic and international food security given that most in the poorer agricultural
economies are dominated by such producers. Awareness of their importance is essential for the
work of the organization focused on developing sustainable agriculture in the world.
5. POLICY INTERVENTIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS
With the future holding more challenges to food security and fluctuating trends of agricultural
trade, policy interventions will be pivotal to food security and Affordable Nutrition. Priority
areas for policy interventions include supporting productivity improvement in small holder
farmers, climate change and insurance, trade promotion and social protection. Considerable
scope for productivity improvements in the smallholder agriculture has been established by
effectiveness of measures such as input usage, credit, technical advice and training, this could
expand the incomes and lower the cost of food. Some of the strategies that would be used when
building resilience are crop diversification, climate intelligent practices, risk transfer products
such as insurance and early warning systems. Thus, such efforts can act as insurance against
disruptions that result from climate change. Trade policy also presents hope to the food markets
– reducing trade barriers, negotiating trade agreements, standardization, and improving trade
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facilities can enhance stability on the markets and optimality of foods around the world.
However, it is crucial to note that while demand management policies are important, they have to
be complemented with other policies if benefits targeted for instance, vulnerable groups are to
reach these populations. With proper policies in social protection like money grants, school
feeding and subsidizing during emergencies, food diet is well secured. As for the further
perspectives, climate change and population increase are still critical. Challenges include the
impacts of climate change-related severe weathers and shifts in growing environment, and
competition for resources. At the same time as affluence and the emerging middle class in the
developing world will up the ante on product quality. Managing these dynamics will therefore
depend on the policies and investment on new solutions in the current society. Balancing a policy
mix, which will foster continuity in productivity improvement, build resilience, link markets and
support the vulnerable groups will be critical to supporting food security in a changing
agricultural environment.
5.1. National and international food security policies
Food security-related policies in the country and at the international level are focused on
interventions with regard to the food chain and food system, that is, agriculture productivity,
production, post-harvest handling, processing, distribution, marketing, and accessibility. Some of
the key policies include a focus on research and development within the agricultural sector,
development of physical infrastructure such as irrigation and road networks within rural areas,
provision of inputs and credit for the smallholder farmer, development of strategic food stocks,
trade liberalization policies and social protection programs.
For instance, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) provides
leadership in the international science agenda for increasing production and productivity of the
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staple crops in the context of climate change, pests, soil degradation, and other
challenges. Official donors such as the United States and countries within the European Union
offer development assistance aimed at agriculture projects in other countries. At home, there are
still policies that support agriculture, though they are somewhat polarizing; they try to make the
farmers’ earnings more stable despite the changes in market prices. Over the years, India has
embarked on the process of decentralization and extension of food-based safety net programs
such as the National Food Security Act 2013 that has provided new entitlements to 800 million
people.
At the global level, organizations such as WTO works to dismantle trade barriers and unfair
policies within agriculture that can potentially worsen the food insecurity. It is also feasible to
note that regional trade liberalization processes also contain references to food security goals
today. For instance, the African Continental Free Trade Area that recently came into force in
2019 has several objectives binding on the development of transport facilities and
standardization for the enhancement of agricultural trade across the region.
In the future, a comprehensive approach will be required due to a raising of income levels,
urbanization, and climate change in the following several decades in the food system. Enhancing
agricultural productivity is going to remain a key to sustainability as the world seeks to feed
itself in 2050 but this has to be done through ‘nutrition-sensitive’ measures in areas of health,
education, and social protection. With the consideration of gender equality, environmental
sustainability, and decent work for everyone in the food system including farmers and food
processors or workers, it is a policy enabler and task. Achievement will necessitate organize
efforts at the local, national, and global levels by the institutions.
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5.2. Food aid and its impact on local agricultural markets
While providing food aid effectively targets the immediate requirements of the hungry
population, its delivery has also elicited apprehensions about market interference with negative
repercussions on food adequacy goals. Most food aid occurs in the form of food commodities
through more or less humanitarian food aid shipments where large quantities of crops, especially
cereals, are shipped in and sold at very low or subsidized prices. The free or cheap food prices
thereby lead to distortions in local markets which may lower the farm gate prices and
subsequently revenues for producers. Due to declining revenues, farmers have less resources and
motivation to invest in technologies and inputs suited to the local environment and that will
increase productivity and incomes in the future. Similarly, food aid can be counterproductive in
cases of self-reliance by eradicating individual and national food self-sufficiency. This is why
policy debates have noted measures that would prevent the negative effects of food aid on
recipient countries markets. Some of the proposed measures include replacement of food aid
with cash transfers as this allows the beneficiaries to have a say while at the same time pulling
out of direct market interferences. The usual advice when in-kind food transfers are made is to
source them locally or regionally, in order not to lower local food prices. Policy guidelines also
call for better targeting of food aid and market assessments before and after food aid intervention
in order to avoid any negative measures that may be associated with it. In total, change in focus
can be seen from understanding the food aid as the way to dispose with the agricultural surplus
and the means of foreign policy of the donor states towards positioning it within the food
security strategy of the recipient states. In this regard, Moyer et al defined that the food aid
should not only set food aid dependency in the long-term but also contribute to building the
capacity of the communities and local organizations to positively sustain and transform the food
systems to nutrition sensitive systems.
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5.3. Innovative financing mechanisms for food security
With food insecurity remaining a significant issue in the world despite having adequate
production capacities globally; innovative financing provides possibilities of filling gaps that
exist. Market incentives can encourage privatization and public interest alters an environment.
Blended finance leverages concessional resources to share risk with commercial actors in order
to incentivize investments in smallholders. Public contributors, via structures such as credit
enhancements and technical assistance facilities, are initially exposed to loss and capacity
constraints, thus mobilising commercial capital for FSRI projects delivering food security, rural
income growth and sustainability co-benefits. Outcomes-based programs link payment timelines
and sum with effectivity, ensuring that the spending is justified. The trend of digitization
accelerates innovative finance as seen in the case of the commodity trading platforms built
through the use of block chain technology to enable small holder farmers sell their crops and be
paid hence enhance their access to the market. It is a form of insurance that immediately
provides cash to the beneficiaries as soon as events such as drought occur to shield farmers from
climate risk. There are also other categories of financial assets that tie repayment of the loans to
GDP growth or price of specific commodities to enhance servicing of loans during
volatilities. The future of financial sources seems to be the increase in cooperation and
integration of financing sources and programs. This has led to the many blended finance
facilities enabling development actors to mobilize and co-ordinate complex large-scale
investments that are tailored to the particular developmental profile of a region or country. There
is room for creation of new debt instruments and the use of technical assistance and insurance in
order to offer risk mitigation solutions. The extent of the digital platforms increases, it also offers
new avenues for the inclusive of various financial services. Governments are also instrumental in
creating enabling environments through the provision of regulatory innovation, building human
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capital, facilitating policy dialogue, demonstration funds and other instruments. For innovative
agriculture and food security financing to be fully realized, it is critical to view the goals through
systems lens, engage in multi-sectoral partnerships, use evidence-based approaches, empower
country leadership, and foster long-term collective follow through.
5.4. The potential of vertical farming and urban agriculture
It is imperative to emphasize that with the current trend of the world’s population, the
urbanization process in particular, effective and sustainable solutions to feeding cities will be
more critical in the future. Vertical farming and urban farming are the innovative ways that are
being adopted to feed people while practicing sustainable farming in the middle of concrete
jungles. Vertical farming involves developing farms with floors of plants growing in constructed
structures under controlled lighting, temperature, and nutrient inputs. They suggested that it can
help revive abandoned buildings and increase the yield per acre by a great extent. Urban farming
is a subcategory of urban agriculture and entails growing of crops in small and vacant lots in the
urban setting, both public and private. People have their gardens and farms in their homes, parks,
and even rooftops of buildings among others. Such localized approaches can offer healthy,
cheap, and accessible foods, generate social and economic development, and minimize the need
for delivering food commodities from rural production sites into urban markets.
The potential of vertical farming and urban agriculture can only be fully leveraged if different
levels of governmental support, as well as external financing, are mobilized. The establishment
of large vertical farms may require changes to zoning laws and building codes on how the
structures can be put up. Local governments can provide tax credits for innovators, challenge
grants, and demonstration projects to spur the creative process. National standards can provide
assurance to the consumers that the foods grown in urban areas meet the set standards and are
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safe for human consumption. Suitable policies should also consider and prevent probable
disadvantages in development, whereby private owned vertical farm may widen social injustices.
In this respect, a careful supervision combined with the cooperation between the public and
private sectors can increase the chances of achieving the goals of equality and the provision of
nutritional values. If well done, this approach can be the model of sustainability of food systems
within the cities of the future that will have to be, in one way or another, more self-reliant.
5.5. Emerging technologies: blockchain, AI, and IoT in agricultural trade
In the years to come, potential areas of growth that could help shape global agricultural trade
include blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT). The distributed,
decentralized ledger technology referred to as blockchain can significantly enhance the visibility,
accountability, and speed of the agri-food supply chain networks and it helps all the actors in the
food supply chain to monitor and trace the food items ‘from farm to fork’; it helps in identifying
the origin of the products and eliminating fraud and malpractices, thus creating trust between the
manufacturers, suppliers and consumers. Payments and contract enforcement are also another
example of what smart contracts on the blockchain can do, various techniques within the domain
of AI and machine learning can help to optimize various aspects of life, including choosing the
best time for crop harvesting through disease detection in crops and even in understanding the
correct nutrition plan for each individual. They can help to improve the agriculture production
worldwide and increase its efficiency by providing more detailed information. Similar to the case
of managing the soil and weather, the increasing use of low-cost IoT sensors in the agricultural
processes also enables the tracking of machinery and crops in an attempt to increase efficiency.
These technologies should be advanced and implemented in a moral way and hence
policymakers should encourage the use of public private partnerships by rewarding firms and
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providing support through strategies that take into consideration digital divide matters. It should
be important to include these new technologies and discuss how they could affect trade in labor.
Every individual privacy concerns should also be considered as data creation and usage becomes
prevalent. If properly harnessed, these blockchain, AI and IoT solutions can revolutionize the
global agriculture sector and feed the world’s increasing population sustainably, by better
connecting the sector, optimizing its operations, incentivizing young people and enabling
smallholder farmers. To facilitate this brighter future, more aggressive government policies and
investments combined with Industry’s dedication, as well as, wise stewardship of technology are
needed.
