Americans are so accustomed to the bounty of safe, affordable food that it is difficult to understand the fact that more than 800 million of the world’s people--nearly one in seven--face chronic hunger. Among children, one in three is undernourished, and every five seconds a child is lost to hunger.

The good news, however, is that finding solutions to global hunger and malnutrition is gaining momentum around the world. Leaders from both developing and developed countries are coming together to put new life in the global goal of cutting hunger by half by 2015.

The United States is leading the way to help developing countries increase their agricultural productivity and thus reduce hunger and poverty. And the work of USDA employees is an important part of our efforts. Employees in almost every corner of USDA touch the lives of many around the world. From conducting needed research, to implementing domestic and international food aid programs, to providing U.S. technical help to developing countries, USDA plays a critical role.

But no event was more illustrative of our efforts than the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology held in June in Sacramento, Calif. This was the first time that USDA has hosted such an important conference, where more than 400 delegates from 117 countries came together to discuss the technologies that are available to help developing countries increase their productivity. The event was a massive undertaking.

The Foreign Agriculture Service led the effort with the help of many USDA agencies. Thousands of hours were spent on the numerous planning and implementation details. For instance, a remarkable program featured experts in a variety of disciplines who were recruited to participate in educational breakout sessions and on the ground tours of facilities around the Conference area. A report--“21st Century Agriculture: A Critical Role for Science and Technology”--was published and an exposition that showcased available technologies was organized. Employees also worked hard in arranging for unprecedented security measures.

The information provided by the speakers, which can be found on http://www.usda.gov, helped to put the issue of global hunger and poverty into perspective. As I reminded the delegates, behind our efforts is a very real human face. That human face motivates all of our efforts at USDA as we promote technology’s role in helping feed and nourish people around the globe.

That reality was the moral imperative that drove the Sacramento conference. The conference generated a great deal of enthusiasm among those attending, but even better, it has yielded the prospect of follow-up efforts such as regional conferences and meetings that will focus on individual staple foods. It has helped refocus the international community on reducing hunger and increasing economic development in areas where the need is greatest. That continuing enthusiasm is an important result of our efforts to help those in need around the world and is something that we can all be proud of. •