A group of 153 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates wrote a letter calling for significant political and financial support for “Moonshot” initiatives to meet the food needs of a growing planet and support the long-term health of the planet. The letter’s authors note the need for concentrated investments in agricultural research and development to address variable and unpredictable weather, declining food yields, soil and land degradation, natural resource scarcity, and biodiversity loss. To rectify these agricultural and environmental concerns, the authors reference the urgency for several moonshot initatives including a perennial agriculture transformation and an emphasis on new crop development for nitrogen fixation and diverse cropping systems at the global scale.
“We are advocating for transformational efforts across the food value chain, from inputs to production to the post-harvest phase. Building on recent advancements in biology and genetics, moonshot initiatives that could be considered include: enhancement of photosynthesis in crops such as wheat and rice, biological nitrogen fixation of major cereals, transformation of annual to perennial crops, development of new and overlooked crops, innovations in diverse cropping systems, enhancement of fruits and vegetables to improve storage and shelf life and to increase food safety, and the creation of nutrient-rich food from microorganisms and fungi”.
The Land Institute and a diverse and growing network of global partners are hard at work to bring solutions to all of these action items to ensure a food-secure and healthy future for people and the planet.