Elanco Has Had “Enough” With Hunger
June 24, 2014
Courtesy, Elanco
Long-time Alliance member Elanco is a leader in the global fight against hunger; which is demonstrated most recently through its “ENOUGH” movement. ENOUGH is an advocacy, education and outreach effort to engage us all in the fight against hunger. The recently launched “ENOUGH Report” kicked off the initiative. The easy-to-read report examines the issues facing those who are food insecure around the world, and the role of innovation, choice and trade in solving the problems that confront them. The “ENOUGH Report” is a highly visual and sharable document for the modern world’s way of communicating via social media and sound bites. The report addresses the dramatic expected world population growth to nine billion people by the year 2050, as well as the shifting economics that will change not only how much food we need but the type of foods many people will be demanding. Research estimates indicate that an additional three billion people will enter the middle class between now and 2020, resulting in a higher standard of living for hundreds of millions of individuals. This shift will lead to diversified diets, better nutrition and higher demand for what many already have come to expect – access to safe animal products. FAO projections indicate that there will be a 60% spike in demand for milk, meat and eggs in the next six years, all while available environmental resources decrease each year. As Elanco President Jeff Simmons points out, we have to produce more with less, and starting now.
The paper also takes a new approach to categorizing the many faces and factions of food security or lack thereof – from domestic food deserts to faraway famine. Simmons and his co-authors break the concept up into six segments, ranging from “The Collapse” and “The Deficiency,” representing death and severe malnutrition from complete lack of food or severe limitations in quantity or variety, to “The Quality” and “The Edge,” touching upon the access issues in inner cities and those plunged into poverty by sudden loss of employment or income. Regardless of where one starts on this chart, the goal is the same – get every global citizen to “The Tradition,” representing consistent food security with high nutritional access and consumer choice.
Courtesy, Elanco
The report is backed up by an impressive and multi-faceted advocacy approach with the website SensibleTable.com. This online hub contains pages examining the problems of feeding the nine billion people who live on earth by 2050 and the many factors that influence reaching or failing to hit that goal – access, affordable food, health and global sustainability. After reading the materials, the website allows visitors to sign up to join the Enough movement as an advocate for food security as well as providing sample Facebook and Twitter posts to share about the cause. In addition, the site contains a downloadable ENOUGH toolkit to be used to engage local leaders. Elanco’s campaign fires on all cylinders, giving citizens the materials to act in their communities, cities, and countries around the world.