TIFTON — United States Senator Johnny Isakson and U.S. Representative Austin Scott held a roundtable on Georgia’s role in combating global hunger Sept. 21 at the UGA Conference Center.

“We have a new policy for Feed the Future,” Isakson said. “That’s a whole of government philosophy. That is to make sure that every dollar that is invested in foreign aid and foreign assistance… is getting a maximum return for the American taxpayer. We also want to quantify the good of those investments versus those investments that are not be as good.

“Nineteen percent of (Georgia’s) economy is agriculture,” Isakson said, when asked why this is important for Georgia and South Georgia in particular. “It is huge for our economy… we want to make sure a focus on agriculture is a part of food security.”

Isakson was joined by a 13-person panel assembled to discuss food security around the world and Georgia’s role in the implementation of the US global food security strategy.

Panelists kept referring to using a “whole of government approach” to combating global hunger. This approach uses collaboration between several different departments and agencies of government to arrive at a solution to a problem.

Growing subsistence crops, like peanuts, rather than cash crops like tobacco, will benefit countries where a large majority of the population lives in poverty, according to members of the panel.

Not only will it lead to self-sufficiency and allow more people to be fed, it will also have both “upstream and downstream” benefits.

Farmers who are taught the best techniques for growing a particular crop and have access to seeds, fertilizer and equipment can grow enough to not only feed their own family, but to turn a profit. This benefits the farmer’s family and immediate neighborhood, but on a larger scale it also leads to better infrastructure, more business opportunities and a better supply of food for other parts of the world.

Several of the panelists said that while humanitarian reasons for working to ensure global food security are primary, encouraging the growth and development of agriculture in other countries also benefits the US and Georgia.

This initiative is a great opportunity to link research done in the US with partners overseas, said Dave Hoisington, program director for the Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation Lad at UGA.

Overcoming obstacles to growing crops in other areas leads to innovations and developments like heartier crops better able to withstand diseases, pests and weather events, which in turn benefits growers and consumers here. Research on making a better peanut also leads to peanut varieties with improved nutritional qualities.

“It’s a virtuous cycle,” said Dr. Jerry Glover, National Geographic Society explorer and senior sustainable agriculture advisor for the USAID. “Using a whole government approach, for example the National Science Foundation working on upstream work, very high tech work like mapping the peanut genome all the way down to the farmer level, but also feeding back into the humanitarian assistance.”

Mark Moore, founder and CEO of MANA Nutrition, compared fighting global hunger to the work agricultural extension did to combat crop failures and hunger during the dust bowl and Great Depression during the 1930s.

“It took research, it took tax money from Virginia. They didn’t want to do that, that was not part of their policy. It took wholesale changes but now when you fly over Kansas it’s pretty impressive. That can come and will come if we support the various aspects at this table,” he said.

Collective action can make a difference, he said.

“If any one of us thinks we’re the answer, we’re in big trouble.”

While most of the focus of the panel was on encouraging small scale operations to promote self-sufficiency, Dr. Greg Fonsah, professor and researcher at UGA Tifton campus in the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics, said that small scale farming is not enough to ensure food security in countries where the crop yield per hectare is very small and populations keep increasing.

He argued that they also need to invest in large scale farming as well.

Isakson said that panels like this are important when the issue of funding comes up.

“We need stories about how this funding helps and why it needs to be reinstated,” he said.

“For those that come to Austin (Scott) and me and say “Don’t put any more money in foreign assistance, let them do their own thing,” they’re missing the biggest investment we can make.”

Isakson hopes to do an omnibus appropriations bill, of which foreign aid will be a large portion, before the end of the year for fiscal year 2018.

“When we send food over there, hopefully we make an investment in saving their lives in return for them being friends,” he said. “Being a partner with other countries around the world can help you get their support during a time when you need them.”

He said that every time he can validate that every dollar that is sent to Washington DC is “spent right and there’s a return on that investment for my family and children” it’s better for the country.

“Georgia has always had a special connection with our nation’s food aid programs, in particular with peanut-based supplements which provide vitamins and protein,” said Rep. Scott in a statement released from his office. “As we look toward writing the next Farm Bill, many programs remain at the forefront of our minds when crafting policies that spur crop production and provide resources to turn crops like Georgia peanuts into lifesaving and life sustaining products.”