DES MOINES, Iowa (DTN) -- A group of World Food Prize laureates is calling on "leaders across government, industry and civil society" to double global investments in humanitarian food aid and agricultural development.

The group of 28 laureates -- along with more than 100 Nobel Prize laureates and more than 250 organizations -- called for a "moonshot of investments into agrifood systems to fight against global food insecurity." In an open letter, they warned that the world "is not even close" to meeting future food needs while more than 700 million people are hungry, and 2 billion people do not have reliable access to food.

The World Food Prize annually holds the Borlaug Dialogue, which seeks to build upon the legacy of wheat breeder Norman Borlaug, a 1970 Nobel Prize winner and father of the "Green Revolution."

Cary Fowler, a 2024 World Food Prize laureate, said global food aid is often treated differently from other international problems. That often leads to food-aid agencies competing for funds against others wanting to promote agricultural development.

"Very often in this field we are pitted against each other from the word go. Do we want to invest in humanitarian assistance, or do we want to invest in agricultural development? I don't know why we set up that dichotomy," Fowler said.

The laureates' call comes as the World Food Program has said it is cutting back on food aid around the world. The world's largest food-aid program has seen 40% of its budget cut, forcing ration cuts and suspension of aid in some regions.

"We are seeing the repercussions in the cuts of funding in food aid -- an increase in hunger and instability in countries that were receiving that aid," said chef and humanitarian leader Jose Andres.

Andres joined the letter with laureates after speaking to the Borlaug Dialogue audience. He created the World Central Kitchen, which has helped feed people in the middle of conflicts, such as Gaza, and following natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes in Haiti. Andres was blunt in his assessment that hunger reflects a lack of global leadership.

"At the end of the day, what we are saying is that food is a universal right," Andres said. "In denying food, we are really denying human rights."

In cutting food aid, Andres also noted there are indirect or direct consequences to farmers, including U.S. farmers, who are seeing less feedstuffs being purchased for U.S. and global aid programs.

Addressing the audience on stage, Andres pointed out hunger is caused by natural disasters, but more often caused by conflicts and poor government policies. "Hunger anywhere is a moral failure everywhere," he said.

Andres called on President Donald Trump to reverse his administration's decision to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency was dismantled by Elon Musk and his DOGE initiative shortly after Trump was sworn in. USAID spent roughly $2 billion annually buying U.S. commodities and spent billions more buying food from farmers to support local food-aid efforts.

"He was ill-advised on getting rid of USAID, because diplomatically, it was the best tool America had for true sub-power and directly was a good investment into American farmers and America taking care of countries around the world," Andres said. "It would be amazing if he realizes he was ill-advised, and it was reversed."

In past years, USAID leaders played a major role at the Borlaug Dialogue with speeches, exhibits and side events. This year, the lack of USAID or any federal government representation was noticeable.

Since the war in Ukraine, World Food Prize laureates have become more vocal in stressing the need for more global attention to hunger and war. Laureates and Andres criticized both the mining of farm fields and attacks on farmers. Andres talked about seeing American farm machinery destroyed in Ukrainian fields. "They were targeting the farmers themselves."

Andres and laureates stressed concerns that cutting off food aid ultimately fuels further conflict. Quoting Norman Borlaug, Andres said, "You cannot build a peaceful world on empty stomachs. This is true and I've seen it first-hand," Andres said. He added, "By cutting international aid, we are creating more mayhem in the world."

Pastor David Beckman, a 2010 World Food Prize laureate, said the world saw significant progress in reducing world hunger over the past four decades. However, that progress has slowed in recent years because conflicts globally have increased, while the pandemic was a setback, and climate change has disproportionately affected smallholder farmers.

"Because of that, progress against hunger has come to a standstill and severe hunger has increased," Beckman said. He added, "I thought we were done with famine, but it has reemerged."

Andres and others also warned that hunger is one of the primary drivers of mass migration. By declining to provide food aid and agricultural development, wealthier countries are spurring people from poor countries to migrate.

"The reason people leave their countries is because they are hungry ... the way to stop all of that is making sure everybody is fed," Andres said.

Laureates also criticized how environmental groups and others have demonized technology as well. Howarth Bouis, an economist and 2016 laureate, is now retired and living in the Philippines. He noted 40% of low-income children in the country are stunted. He noted that the Philippines briefly approved Golden Rice in 2021, which has double the normal amount of vitamin A intake and increases minerals such as zinc and iron. The sale of Golden Rice is now halted in the Philippines, though.

"Greenpeace came in and did a legal action, and now it is regulated, and now it is illegal. It's now sitting on the shelf," Bouis said, adding that it has disillusioned groups that spent years helping fund efforts to grow Golden Rice. He added, "There's no more funding. Golden Rice will be mothballed in 2026."

Andres also cautioned against ignoring climate change and the degradation of soils. "One day, not too far away from today, imagine if the newspaper says, 'Today, planet Earth has not enough food to feed itself. This could be happening. It's not science fiction.'"

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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