A recently published white paper, “Making safe, affordable and abundant food a global reality,” authored by Elanco president Jeff Simmons, outlines how highly efficient food production can help alleviate world hunger, lower food costs, protect consumer rights and safeguard the world’s natural resources.
At the crux of Simmons’ argument is the assertion that highly efficient food production achieved via modern agricultural technologies enables three rights:
- Food is a basic human right deserved by every man, woman and child.
- Choice is a consumer right.
- Sustainability is environmentally right.
Despite the Green Revolution’s legacy of employing agricultural technologies to improve yields and eradicate famines, some fringe groups seek to restrict farmers’ access to efficiency-enhancing technologies, said Simmons. They push for laws and regulations that make food production less efficient. “The world already has a proven and powerful weapon to fight an affliction that killed more than 18 million people between 2008 and 2010," he said. "Denying people access to technology that can make safe, affordable food more abundant is wrong and a violation of basic rights all people deserve."
