How can we balance the world’s growing need for food with the existential threat of climate change? Can we have productive farms and a healthy environment at the same time? The new Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is looking for solutions.
Feeding the World and Doing it Sustainably
The Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security is taking on a "generational challenge"
Fall/Winter 2022
The numbers tell the story.
The human population is expected to approach 10 billion by 2050, and malnutrition is widespread, particularly in the Global South. One of the best ways to address our urgent need for increased food production is with animal protein.
On the other hand, livestock agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, producing 10-12% of global emissions, largely due to fertilizer application, manure management, and direct release from cattle.
There is a tension between two pressures that agriculture faces. One is to be more environmentally friendly. Two is to go and feed the world. Our Center will be one of the few that is focusing on both of these directives at the same time.”Thomas Parsons, Director of the Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security and Marie A. Moore Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics in the Department of Clinical Studies at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center
At Penn Vet, the Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security is taking on what Center Director Thomas Parsons calls a “generational challenge.”
Based at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Campus, the Center will draw on expertise within the School and from around the University to improve food animal productivity—all while striving for sustainability.
To achieve its mission, the Center will focus on five “clusters of excellence”: Animal Welfare, Regenerative Agriculture, Food Security, Climate Impact, and Human Health Interfaces. The five overlapping areas will advance research, training, and outreach to bring Penn Vet’s innovations to farmers wherever they are—in Pennsylvania, the United States, and beyond.
“Simply put, we have a climate crisis, and we have a food security crisis,” explains Andrew Hoffman, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Penn Vet. “We will only succeed if we adapt and innovate to address both.”
Funding for the new Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security is vital to the Center’s mission and impact.
For more information on how your gift can support the Center, contact Hyemi Sevening, Associate Dean of Institutional Advancement, Penn Vet, at (215) 898-1482 or sevening@upenn.edu.
