“To be interested in food but not in food production is clearly absurd.”
–Wendell Berry

Sometimes simple answers to world hunger lie in small improvements on old methods of agriculture.

Michael McClellan, a retired diplomat who has served in South Sudan and Yemen, says our objective in working to end hunger should not be “to feed the world” but “to enable the world to feed itself.”

As an example, he suggests the use of cattle to work as draft animals on small farms in places like South Sudan instead of expensive farm machinery. These animals cost much less than machines but increase output over hand labor. Animals also provide manure for fertilization of fields.

Some modern methods of farming have stressed chemical fertilizers, expensive machinery, and ever larger farms. These practices can lead to depletion of soil and the loss of land by small farmers to pay off debts.

When small farms become productive and a source of adequate income to their owners, farm populations remain stable. They do not flood into cities, adding to the unemployed poor.

Good farming, McClellan says, improves the land and keeps people on the land.