Over the past two years, consumers have felt whiplash from volatile grain prices, as powerful players in the global markets cut off trade. It began with Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which disrupted exports of products including wheat and fertilizer from two of the world’s biggest suppliers. Russia has repeatedly used agriculture as a pawn in its game to punish Ukraine and its supporters, and its recent pull-out of the Black Sea grain deal, which had helped keep exports flowing, caused another round of price spikes in the markets.
Now India has stepped into the fray by barring exports of non-basmati rice, in an attempt to protect supplies for its citizens and tamp down on rising food costs. Global rice prices recently reached the highest in 15 years, according to United Nations estimates. This is especially troubling because rice is a staple food for almost half the world, and many developing countries are already experiencing high prices and increasing hunger and malnutrition due to the Russia- Ukraine conflict, COVID-19 pandemic, and extreme weather events. Worse still, there are signs that trade protectionism is on the rise, similar to what we saw during the 2008 food crisis. There are currently 41 food export restrictions from 19 countries in effect worldwide, including taxes and export bans, according to CGIAR’s International Food Policy Research Institute.
Countries around the world have become increasingly reliant on trade to meet their most basic food needs – and recent events show that this creates huge repercussions when those shipments stop. Even the U.S., the world’s top agricultural exporter, isn’t immune to challenges. American consumers have experienced huge swings in food costs and shortages of products at grocery stores over the past two years, thanks in part to macroeconomic factors occurring beyond our borders. U.S. farmers were also forced to pay surging prices for fuel and fertilizer last year, making many small family businesses less economically viable.
So how do we solve this crisis, shield consumers from rising prices, and support U.S. farmers in the process? When it comes to rice, one solution would be to produce more of the grain here at home, so that Americans have access to ample supplies and farmers can build new markets when international prices rise. However, the U.S. rice market desperately needs innovation to enable farmers to increase their production.
Most consumers think of crops as relatively static, but in reality, new varieties need to be developed year after year so that farmers can increase yields to meet rising global demand and address a whole host of challenges, including changing climatic conditions, emerging pests and diseases, and limits on resources including water. Agricultural science is also necessary to ensure crop quality and nutritional value and to make production more sustainable.
Most private companies focus their research dollars on the largest crops grown in America, especially corn and soybeans, while other crops including rice receive significantly less funding. This is where the public sector must play a vital role. Research conducted at U.S. land grant universities, USDA laboratories, and international organizations like CGIAR is critical to making sure that rice and other important crops stay one step ahead of emerging challenges.
I know firsthand about the benefits of public-sector research because I spent 35 years as a rice breeder at Louisiana State University. Louisiana encapsulates the types of new and unforeseen challenges that farmers increasingly face. This year, drought lowered water levels on the Mississippi River and pushed saltwater further inland from the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the state’s drinking water and farmers’ ability to irrigate crops. More research is needed to address Louisiana’s water crisis and issues like it around the world, to ensure that farmers can be profitable and produce enough food for everyone.
Given these risks, increased funding for agricultural research should be a no-brainer – especially because it has one of the highest returns of any public investment, returning $20 for every $1 spent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In spite of this, U.S. public funding for agricultural research has declined in real dollars in the past 20 years. Today, competitors including China and the European Union outspend the U.S. on public agricultural research, putting our trade advantage at risk, according to a report from the Farm Journal Foundation.
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As Congress works on the next farm bill, it has a timely opportunity to act. For example, Congress could use the Farm Bill to increase funding for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a public-private partnership that matches the public funding it receives with non-federal sources. To date, FFAR has matched every $1 of taxpayer money with $1.40 in outside investment for research, including for important projects to improve fertilizer efficiency and develop new heat-tolerant varieties of rice. In addition, Congress could use the upcoming Farm Bill to incrementally increase funding for research and statistical agencies at the USDA, similar to what has been proposed in the America Grows Act.
Agricultural research conducted in the U.S. benefits American farmers as well as those in developing countries, where crop yields lag significantly behind world averages. Doing our part to alleviate global hunger and malnutrition is the right thing to do, but it also leads to other tangible benefits. Countries that are more food-secure are ultimately more stable, which supports our national security interests, and evidence shows that when developing countries’ economies expand, they can become strong trading partners with the U.S. Ultimately, investing in agricultural research creates a win-win situation – keeping U.S. agriculture at the cutting edge while creating a more food-secure world for all.
Dr. Steve Linscombe is the director of The Rice Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports research projects, leadership, and education programs in the rice industry. He previously served as the long-time director of the Rice Research Station at Louisiana State University, retiring in 2017.
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