Bill Gates' investment in 'super cows' shows that many of the world's farms are in crisis mode
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced that it will invest $40 million into a nonprofit that researches livestock vaccinations and genetics. One goal is to breed higher-yielding dairy cows.
- Nearly half of all crop yields are lost to climate change-related weather patterns, pests, and diseases in developing countries.
- Boosting local livestock production could help address hunger in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
- Gates also sees agricultural research as a way to help lift struggling farmers and their communities out of poverty.
Around 750 million people in low- and middle-income countries depend on livestock farming as a source of food and income, according to the International Livestock Research Institute.
Drought, disease, and unpredictable weather put these farms at risk.
Solutions may lie in more research on livestock and crop health, according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In late January, the organization said it will invest $40 million in projects to breed cows that produce more milk and chickens that lay better-quality eggs, focusing on farms in South Asian and African countries.
The foundation's interest in agricultural research is a testament to the challenges faced by the world's farms. In the developing world, 40% to 50% of all crop yields are lost to pests, diseases, or post-harvest losses. Famine from food insecurity is a serious issue in places like Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Nepal, as well as other countries with burgeoning populations. Beefing up small-scale livestock farming could help address hunger there, according to the United Nations.
In coming decades, Asian farms could see an even greater strain. The continent is already the world's largest food market, and by 2050, its population could grow to five billion - an increase of 900 million people. Over the next three decades, urbanization will likely boost the number of people in cities by 2.5 billion, with much of that growth in developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. That means farms there will need to keep up with both local and global food demand.
This is not the first time the Gates Foundation has bolstered agricultural projects. In December, it pledged $300 million over the next three years to support agricultural research that will help low-income farmers in Asia and Africa adapt to climate change (including rising temperatures, extreme weather patterns, and diseases). And in the past decade, the foundation has devoted more than $2 billion toward similar initiatives around the world.
The latest investment will go to the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines, an Edinburgh-based nonprofit that conducts research into livestock vaccinations and genetics.
The UK's Department for International Development is partnering with the Gates Foundation to give an additional $128 million to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which works toward growing "super crops" that are more resilient to climate change. A further $5.7 million from the British government will go to the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, a venture intended to improve the productivity and health of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa.
Gates sees this research as a way to address global poverty.
"If you care about the poor, you should care about agriculture. And if you care about agriculture, you care about livestock," he told an audience at the University of Edinburgh. "What that means in this context is helping poor farmers get as much as possible out of their animals."