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World Agricultural
Forum Facilitating discussion on ways to feed the world
By Pam Droog
In the next 20 years: the world’s population will grow by several
billion people...life expectancy will increase by five years...developing
nations will double their animal protein intake, thereby increasing
demand for row crops...but there will be no more prime agricultural
land on which to produce food. “That’s the dangerous cocktail
for world peace or discord, and it’s the backdrop against which
the World Agricultural Forum was formed,” says Leonard Guarraia,
the organization’s president and chairman of the board.
Top
Row (left to right): James A. Svoboda, Chief Financial
Officer, J. Powell Carman Second Row: Earle
H. Harbison, Jr., James L. McHugh, Bruce B. Adaire
Third: Robert J. Wanzel, Kathleen D. Moldthan
Fourth: Richard A. McWard, Leonard J. Guarraia,
Ph.D., Chairman Bottom: Alfred H. Kerth, III, Gerard
Acogny, Vice-Chairman, Africa
Not Pictured: John W. Bachmann; Bob Ciapciak;
Will D. Carpenter, Ph.D.; Jerry D. Caulder, Ph.D.;
Richard C. D. Fleming; Lynn O. Henderson; Seung H.
Kim, Ph.D. - Vice-Chairman, Asia; Adeoye Y. Olukotun,
M.D.; Peter H. Raven, Ph.D.; W. Wayne Withers; Abner
Womack, Ph.D. |
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The Forum’s vision is simple, Guarraia says. “We want to be the
premiere international institution for neutral discussion of the
issues surrounding the production and distribution of food, fuel
and fiber.”
The organization was founded in 1997 by Guarraia, former CEO of
the American Soybean Association. “I was retired and felt it was
time to give something back,” he says. “There was an obvious need
for this kind of organization, so I sat down with some people
in St. Louis and we had many discussions all around the world,
and everyone applauded the idea.”
The World Agricultural Forum is led by both a board of directors
and a board of advisors. The 18-member board of directors is comprised
of primarily St. Louis-based executives who manage the finances
and operations of the organization. “They’re the hands-on people,
the ones who actually worry about raising money and signing contracts,”
Guarraia says.
The board of advisors includes recognized leaders in global agriculture,
ministers of states, ambassadors, academics and heads of advocacy
groups, major corporations and labor unions. “They meet twice
a year to set the agenda, determine the critical issues and advise
on how the Forum can play a unique role in addressing those issues,”
Guarraia says. The advisors, chaired by former U.S. Senator John
Danforth, are selected on the basis of their stature, location
and the area of agriculture they represent.
Currently the Forum is conducting two major surveys of global
leaders. One asks what are the most critical agricultural issues
they face, and how issues in other areas impact them. The second
survey will ask where agriculture will be in five, 10, 15 years.
The results will be published in a journal that will be sent free
to international leaders, and also published on the Internet.
The Forum also will bring together the world’s leading charitable
foundations to assess their interest in global agriculture, and
it’s planning regional conferences in Africa in 2002, and in Asia/Pacific
in 2003.
“Finally, we have the World Congress, held every two years in
St. Louis,” Guarraia says. “It really does secure St. Louis’ reputation
as the capital of global agriculture.” After all, more than 54
percent of total U.S. agricultural production is located within
500 miles of St. Louis. Also, St. Louis is the world’s largest
inland water port for agricultural products. It’s home to major
universities and corporations, and it’s becoming a critical life
sciences corridor. “Frankly, in Europe now they refer to our annual
World Congress as the ‘St. Louis meeting,’” Guarraia notes. “That’s
a very significant recognition of the role of St. Louis and of
the Forum.”
The first World Congress, held in 1999, attracted more than 400
representatives of world agriculture. Several hundred more are
expected May 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency at Union Station, including
the presidents of Senegal and Nigeria, and deputy prime ministers
or vice presidents from Australia, Indonesia, Ukraine and Thailand,
“plus 15 or more ministers of state, and a gaggle of CEOs,” Guarraia
notes. Danforth adds, “presenters and panel members at the Congress
will represent the finest minds in global agriculture.”
The board of advisors met for two days in St. Louis last March
to plan the agenda for the World Congress. Danforth explains,
the agenda “goes to the heart of the profound challenges facing
global agriculture today—challenges made even more daunting by
a world population that grows nearly a quarter of a million people
every day and will exceed six billion by the end of 2001.”
The role of the World Agricultural Forum is “to facilitate the
exchange of ideas, to bring disparate groups together without
a set agenda, and to allow them to hear each other,” says Kathleen
Moldthan, the Forum’s vice president of program development. She
explains, participants address the technical issues of food production.
“But equally important are how the discussions affect policy issues.
That’s why it’s critical to bring business, political, academic
and advocacy leaders together.” Danforth anticipates the discussions
will lead to initiatives to resolve “issues critical to agriculture
and food distribution as well as our common commitment to insure
adequate food and fiber for a growing world population.”
Guarraia and Moldthan believe the more people are involved, the
more progress can be made. As a result, the World Congress will
be televised via satellite to North, Central and South America,
and broadcast live on the Internet.
All this attention has a tremendous impact on the region. Business
leaders who attend the Congress see the benefits of the the area
in terms of possible investment. “For example, the venture capitalists
for agriculture have moved their meeting from Texas to St. Louis
to coincide with the Congress,” Guarraia says. “Other groups,
like the Asia-Pacific Economic Council (APEC), also will meet
in conjunction with our meeting, so the area is impacted by more
exposure and infusion of money.”
Also, receptions will be held at the Missouri Botanical Garden
and the St. Louis Science Center, “allowing us to showcase our
world-class organizations,” Guarraia adds. “Then you have press
form all over the world here. So all of a sudden the ‘St. Louis
meeting’ becomes the place to do a lot of business.”
Issues regarding feeding the world’s growing population assure
the World Agricultural Forum will not run out of work. “We recently
asked United Nations leadership, ‘What’s your most serious concern
for world peace?’ The answer was, ‘Food and food distribution,’”
Guarraia says. “And that’s the way it has been for all time. Adam
and Eve, the apple. It’s all about food! That’s the glue that
holds society together.”
Pam Droog is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
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