News Release

Jan. 4, 2018 – The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) have created a new, informational blog about sustainability and food security for the general public. Sustainable, Secure Food can be found at https://sustainable-secure-food-blog.com/. The blog will be published twice a month.

Gary Pierzynski, Kansas State University, and John Shanahan, Fortigen, worked with teams from each society to create the blog, along with staff from the societies. “Reaching out to the public with relatable topics about sustainability and food security is one of our key goals,” says Pierzynski, who is also president-elect of ASA. “Our member scientists and practitioners are looking forward to the interactions we can have in this public space.”

Shanahan, a long-time member of both ASA and CSSA says, “There are many questions the public has about both food security and creating a sustainable food system. We hope to build a story based on both topics that are relatable and, perhaps, applicable in our audience’s lives. For example, we might share practices for large farms that can also be applied to a home garden. We’ll help our readers learn how to select the best seeds for their environment, and make sure they get the best yields.”

The first blog, now published, is titled “What are food security and sustainable food production, and how are they linked?” It was co-written by Pierzynski and Shanahan.

Key excerpts from the blog:

• Food security and sustainable food production are both terms that are used by various organizations. From our scientific perspective, we look at both of these topics from the food growing and processing aspects. Our members work diligently to make sure that our seed supply is safe, that growers use the best practices, and the Earth is preserved.
• Food security and sustainable food production are closely linked. Society must strike a balance between securing adequate nourishment for a growing world population while simultaneously sustaining or even enhancing the soils upon which food production relies.  
• What are some of the key concepts of food security?
  • Consistency
  • Affordability
  • Safety
  • Adequacy of nutrition and calories
• Sustainable food production is not an “either-or” proposition. It should be viewed as a continuum ranging from “not sustainable” on one end to “more sustainable” on the other.
• Inherent in sustainable food production is the concept of trade-offs.
• The bottom line with sustainability and food security is this: We must grow our food in the most sustainable way to ensure our future food supply. Making sure people have food in times of drought or flood means breeding crops that are resilient to climate change. Growing more food in the space we have means finding the right mix of fertilizer, water, and seed choice. In this way, food security and sustainability are important pillars in the agronomic and crop science community.

To read the complete blog, visit Sustainable, Secure Food at https://sustainable-secure-food-blog.com/.

This blog is sponsored and written by members of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America. Our members are researchers and trained, certified professionals in the area of growing our world’s food supply while protecting our environment. We work at universities, government research facilities, and private businesses across the United States and the world.