Mission

Stanford University’s new program on Food Security and the Environment aims to generate innovative solutions to the persistent problems of global hunger and environmental damage from agricultural practices worldwide through a focused research portfolio and an interdisciplinary team of scholars. The program provides the educational foundation for graduate and undergraduate students at Stanford interested in issues of hunger, rural development, global resource and environmental degradation, agricultural technology, climate impacts on food security, and agricultural trade and policy. It also links food and resource issues to security issues more traditionally defined. The program provides direct science and policy outreach through international development and aid institutions, the international agricultural research centers (CGIAR), the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), environmental non-profit organizations, private sector firms, and other groups that play significant roles in the agricultural development and environment arenas.

Our Goals

• To design new approaches to solving global hunger and environmental problems related to agriculture by creating an interdisciplinary team of scholars inside and outside Stanford who collectively have the relevant scientific, economic, and policy expertise.
• To expand higher education on food security and the environment by enhancing the curriculum at Stanford in the areas of hunger, agricultural development, sustainable agriculture, and related fields such as risk assessment, national security, and policy analysis.
• To develop outreach activities with the private sector, national agencies, international organizations, and the NGO community on critical topics of agricultural technology and development, food security, and environment and climate linkages to agriculture.
• To establish Stanford as the leader in higher education in these fields.

Organization

The Program on Food Security and the Environment is a joint program between the international and environment initiatives at Stanford, with food security research organized mainly under the international initiative and environment research organized primarily under the environment initiative. Scholars centrally involved with the program have senior fellow appointments within the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), the Woods Institute for the Environment (Woods), and/or professorial positions within university departments. They work as a team on a set of overlapping projects.

An advisory committee of eight distinguished individuals from a crosssection of academic, NGO, and private and public sector backgrounds is being established to advise the program on research, fundraising, and outreach strategies.

Funding Strategy

The Program on Food Security and the Environment is built around strong and continuous leadership, a team of scholars from a variety of policy and science backgrounds, innovative research projects, the training of young scholars, several formal courses, and core administrative support.

The funding priorities for the program include funds for:

• Two new senior fellow appointments in related science and policy fields ($3 million in endowment for each)
• A visiting fellows program, with visits ranging from 3 months to two years in duration, to bring new insights and skills to Stanford ($2 million in term endowment)
• Research funds to initiate innovative interdisciplinary projects ($1 million in term endowment)
• Two FSE fellows to assist in program initiatives ($1 million in term endowment)
• Graduate and undergraduate student support for research directly related to the program ($1 million in term endowment)
• Unrestricted program support ($1 million in term endowment)

FSE Contacts