One of the plenary speakers at the 2017 Water for Food Conference was Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist, Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development. Bertram has served as a key adviser on a range of technical and programmatic issues to advance global food security and nutrition. He leads U.S. Agency for International Development’s evidence-based efforts to advance research, technology and implementation in support of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future.

His presentation, “Role of Water in Food Security Investment Strategies Under the Global Food Security Act,” began with an overview of the ongoing global efforts to increase food security, followed by a discussion of the challenges facing food security and the ways ways that water is impacting those challenges.

“Agricultural growth is about twice as effective at reducing extreme poverty than other kinds of growth, because agricultural productivity gains drive the demand for locally produced goods and services that the poor are often able to provide,” he said in the presentation. “They also make food more affordable and available, and the poorer you are the more money you spend on food, so agricultural growth also reduces hunger.”

Listen to his entire presentation here:
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View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Water for Food Conference Photo Album