Problem

Agricultural commodities form the backbone of the global food supply. Some commodities like corn, sugar and palm oil are now experiencing a gold rush of investment as potential feedstocks for bio-fuel as well. Increasingly, agriculture is being called upon to provide not only food, feed and fiber but also fuel. Today's production practices can make or break the resource base of future generations.

The Gift

Your gift will pay for one hour of a researcher's time to build on current efforts to address sustainability issues in palm oil, cotton, soy, sugar, coffee and other commodities by looking across commodities. The research will determine the key impacts that matter most for water, soil, biodiversity, toxicity and greenhouse gas emissions and find indicators to measure them.