With $1.75 million from a new research grant, professors and students from the College of Agricultural Science are ready to tackle world hunger.
Researchers from the college are set to conduct a six-year study that will search for ways to develop sustainable food systems in poor countries — thanks to a $1.75 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
Todd Winters, associate dean of the college, said the research would start during the seeding season and focus on the environmental affects of fertilizers, pesticides, transgenic corn and farming practices.
“We’re looking at getting a little better understanding at what farmers are doing with their farmlands and what effects that can have,” Winters said.
The work will take place on the nearly 500-acre land owned by the foundation in Christian and Macon counties, said Bryan Young, an SIUC agronomist and supervisor for the project. He said the size and scope of the research makes this project unique.
“Rarely can someone get this much land to do research on,” he said. “You can’t go to anybody and just buy 500 acres from them.”
Howard G. Buffett said in an e-mail the goal of the project is to develop a long-term food sustainability system that could aid countries with food shortages such as Africa.
“The most important research to me personally, is being able to document how fast the soil fertility is depleted using high production techniques where systems do not exist to support their use,” he said.
Buffett said it is often irresponsible to build a system based on fossil fuel systems for poor farmers across the world.
“There are much more appropriate ways to help farmers in Africa,” he said. “What better place to test our system than in this environment and compare the results to our 9,200 acre research farm in South Africa? I believe we will be able to provide a unique look at how these different approaches can affect poor farmers.”
Young said discussions with Buffett began when the philanthropist held a lecture — sponsored by the Paul Simon Institute — in Carbondale April. Young said he, Buffett and Winters have been in contact about doing some research since summer.
“(Buffett) ran some ideas by us, and we told him what we could and couldn’t do,” Winters said. “It just kind of evolved from there into this project which is what we’re now starting.”
Even though the grant runs for six years, Buffett said he anticipates donating additional funds through 2029.
“The purchase of our land is longterm, and as long as we have good ideas there is no reason not to extend our research for many years,” he said. “The longer we can execute these projects, the better results we will have. Duration and understanding the variability over time will provide more accurate answers and support better decisions.”
Jon Schoonover, an assistant professor in forestry, said the distance between the central Illinois farmland and Carbondale should not be too much of a problem.
“It sounds far, but we don’t have to be there every day,” he said. “It really matters on what the weather is up there, whether it’s raining or not. We have computers that monitor the levels of water, or we can just watch the weather reports up there.”
Research will be conducted by professors, graduate and undergraduate students from the Department of Forestry; Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems; and the Fisheries and Illinois Aquaculture Center.
Young said there would be around five to six students working with the project at a time, but he did not see any reason why students who were interested could not participate.
Buffett said this research is the first of its kind and the foundation never has any commercial agenda.
“One difference is that we have no commercial agenda so we can implement a number of ideas with no constraints in terms of the results,” he said. “Because of the nature of our foundation we can be responsive and flexible.”
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