| Echoing President John F. Kennedy’s initiative to put man on the moon in the 1960s, more than 150 Nobel and World Food Prize laureates say urgent help is needed for another mammoth effort: Fighting hunger. In an open letter this week, they called for financial and political backing to develop “moonshot” technologies with the best chance of averting hunger in the next 25 years. They warned that the world is “not even close” to meeting future food needs and that leaders need to prioritize urgent agricultural research. They highlighted that some 700 million people are already going hungry and that there will be another 1.5 billion to feed by 2050. There are many challenges to feeding a growing population. They include conflict restraining access to food and extreme weather — made worse by climate change — that damages crops and farmers’ livelihoods. Humanity faces an “even more food insecure, unstable world” by mid-century unless support for research and innovation is ramped up, according to the laureates. Those who signed the letter include Robert Woodrow Wilson, a Nobel Prize winner for his discovery that supported the big bang theory of creation, and Jennifer Doudna, a pioneer in CRISPR gene editing. The 14th Dalai Lama and economist Joseph Stiglitz were also among signatories. What Can Be Done? Improving photosynthesis in staple crops to optimize growth, developing grains that grow without fertilizer or boosting research into hardy, nutrition-rich indigenous crops are some of the most promising scientific breakthroughs and emerging fields of research that could be prioritized. “Science can help solve many of the world’s hunger problems,” said Richard Roberts, who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in medicine. “We must be led by the evidence if we are to benefit from scientific advances.” He singled out genetic modification that studies show are safe and which could help in the developing world, where yields and nutrient quality need to increase. He said one example is Golden Rice, which could help to alleviate Vitamin A deficiency that causes childhood blindness. “We need to launch long-term science-based actions today in order to achieve a world without hunger," NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig said. More Food for Thought Contagious animal diseases are another threat to food supplies. German meat exports are being hurt by the country’s first foot-and-mouth case in almost four decades. Farm group DRV this week warned that the German agriculture industry faces sales losses of about €1 billion after the discovery of the disease led to trade restrictions. —Agnieszka de Sousa in London | 
