CIRED spotlighted at 2019 GAP Report Launch

CIRED was pleased to join Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and a host of global agricultural partners for the 2019 Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Report launch in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Each year, the report examines strategies to produce food, feed, fiber, and biofuel in a sustainable manner to meet the demands and needs of a growing world. The 2019 report, prepared by CALS, noted that through agricultural productivity growth, attention to ecosystem services, and reduction of waste and loss, global nutritional and environmental goals can be achieved, without eliminating nutrient-dense foods that consumers need and want.

President Sands, featured speaker at the launch, recognized the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL) for sharing “practices that make it possible for some of the world’s poorest farmers to fight invasive pests.” His remarks were followed by a panel of global experts, including: Miguel Garcia Winder, undersecretary of agriculture in Mexico; Rose Mwonya, vice chancellor of Egerton University in Kenya; and Alan Grant, dean of CALS.

Two CIRED-managed programs are featured in the GAP Report: IPM IL’s efforts to model and manage invasive species and the Virginia Tech, U.S. Agency for International Development partnership on the Catalyzing Afghan Agricultural Innovation (CAAI) project. 

CIRED Executive Director Van Crowder, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan, CIRED Communications Director April Raphiou, and IPM IL Communications Specialist Sara Hendery represented CIRED at the event. CIRED also hosted an informational booth at the launch.

Since it was first published in 2010, the GAP Report has developed a global audience, with compelling insights for national and international policymakers, agribusinesses, U.N. agencies, universities, researchers, and nongovernmental organizations.