Preserving and improving global food security smartly creates economic opportunity here by alleviating poverty overseas. Recently Congress passed and President Obama recently signed into law the Global Food Security Act which authorizes U.S. efforts on international agricultural development. While it seems increasingly difficult, but important, to find areas of bipartisan support, we applaud Congress for acknowledging the problems of global hunger and coming together to solve those problems.
Another area of opportunity where the Senate can achieve a bipartisan consensus on alleviating global food security while at the same time enhancing US economic potential is the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has already moved the treaty out of the Committee without opposition and the agreement is currently awaiting consideration on the Senate floor. The agreement enhances U.S. competitiveness and global food security by providing continued access and exchange of plant genetic materials used to improve seeds for farmers.
The development and commercialization of high quality seed is a high priority for the American Seed Trade Association and it is critical to global food security. Many people are not aware of the highly interdependent nature of our global food system. No country, including the U.S., is self-sufficient when it comes to seed for the future. In fact, seventy percent of the food we eat and grow comes from crops that are not native to the U.S. American seed banks store, maintain and distribute to U.S. researchers over 560,000 crop varieties. However, over two million more crop lines and their relatives are held in seed banks outside of the country. In order to ensure diversity and improve variety, U.S. seed companies and public researchers must be able to move seed and plant materials between countries.