 to insects all of that will be improved over the next decade two decades allowing farmers To not only increase their yields, but to avoid the loss of yields that you might get from floods of drought Well, you asked for hope you got it Yes, please Thank you to all the panelists has been really informative discussion. I'm had a question for Duncan from Erie Just to continue that you sort of touched on the topic I want to ask about which is the dissemination of information, but also it's just in the seed Once you perfect a variety or once you develop the variety that's accessible to a specific region How do the farmers of that region access the seed? Do you have another entity that you give it up to either private or public that? That sells the seed. How do you handle patents? I'm just curious about that You know, it's a great question and it's really important Essentially our traditional partners of the ministries of agriculture Through through the 60s the 70s in the 80s We would develop a new technology and you rise variety and share it with the ministries of agriculture And they're the ones who had these extension services so in every community or province around Asia Indonesia Thailand India the Department of Agriculture Officers had this seed which they would multiply and share with farmers As I was saying those systems aren't as robust or well-funded as what they used to be or frankly should be So now we partner with a whole range of organizations NGOs increasingly work very effectively at the grassroots with many Asian communities and NGOs working in poverty alleviation a whole range of issues Understand at the village level the fundamental need is food You know if you're can if you're working in a village in Laos, and you're working in education one of your biggest challenges is to keep the children in school because at sowing time and at harvest time They're out of school because they need help on the farm So if you want to commit to good educational policies in Laos It's really helpful to have a productive farm community around you that doesn't need the children out of school to help them So NGOs surprisingly in those areas, so we would work with Oxfam increasingly a range of NGOs And then the third area of course is the private sector In India, there's the it's a great example if you're familiar with India now There's increasingly companies like Tata and reliance industries setting up shops outlets all through the villages in the provinces that provide technologies to farmers and Again With Gates, it's one of their obviously they're very experienced as you would all know with Product delivery and maintaining a product to the consumer and so they Tell us very clearly There's no point you developing a great technology a great product if you can't get it to the people who need it So it's a very important part of their aspect as well Time marches on we're getting thirsty and hungry and there's food back there Yeah food security. It's I think it's all gluten. So but in any case, let's take one or two more questions Yes, please Doris. Yeah In regard to the difficulties that you've all alluded to What about the political ramifications that take place in various countries? I'm thinking specifically of the difficulties in Thailand recently and how that kind of thing affects the agricultural production, etc Is it because of course in the case of Thailand It was the people in the northern part of the country and they were primarily the farmers, etc So what does that do to price? What does that do to the whole? management of a crop which is being interfered with because of political difficulties and I'm not there are the countries Cambodia and Vietnam that are also affected interesting question what I find is that governments getting involved Usually it pushes Thailand's mix is the is the opposite and they get involved They work very hardly in India being a very good example to depress price aggressively to keep the stable population And like the US you have the opposite problem the growers have exacted a certain amount of political influence and They've been able to get the government to hold What equate to about 20% of world trade in stock And so of course politics is gonna We could all not have politics it seemed like a great idea, but politics will continue to play out its card throughout life And sometimes it helps food production and sometimes it hurts sometimes it donates sometimes it would withheld the investment The politicians will continue to play their important part The one thing I think I find a concern to take from this is that if you look at cycles psychological cycles through societies the most Concerning point I see is that a lack of responsibility and a lack of foresight that you saw like in the world war two generation They looked ahead. It wasn't about credit. It wasn't about political gain It was about building a future the green revolution And what I see today in a lot of countries including some of the ones you mentioned is that it's about the politics about today The problem is if you're never planning for tomorrow when you're playing for politics today, you're looking for credit And you only put out fires that occur You never put out fires that never existed. I think that's my biggest my biggest concern politically is that people want to take credit For things instead of solving problems. I see it universally throughout the world. It's about the credit It's not about the future. That's probably the more bigger concern Governments are gonna play their role But that is a dangerous thing going on of not looking ahead Anomic historian by training and instinct and I guess I think this has been going on longer than Jeremy Might might indicate you Winston Churchill said you can always count on Americans to do the right thing After they've tried everything else I can say 50 years ago we looked forward But in fact if you were to go back and look at the debates at the time We weren't very good at it then either we muddle through And I'm actually fairly optimistic. I thought what that Duncan's list of the potential The science has on offer if we'll put the resources Behind that it's pretty clear now that The incentive structures are safe. Yes, let's get that done in 1986 1995 Who in their right mind would have invested in agriculture? It was dirt cheap We know that's not true. Erie saying and I really buy into this There are ways we can solve these problems If we make the right investments and like the investor community the official Consolidate group for international agricultural It doesn't look like that groups actually going to be able to get its act together But that does not mean we won't find another way to raise the resources That's one of the reasons we're here for heaven's sakes is we're trying to find a way to raise resources in a more reliable way Then and the question is Is that if our population goes to nine to ten billion people? We have to have a solution whether it's political or what and I think Peter ahead of the curve. I Just have to use that question to give a plug for philanthropy. You know, I think it's Governments will do so much but it really you know Rocker fellow foundation supports us today That's 50 years of support and Anybody who feels well, there's still poverty and hunger in the world I think is missing the point of that sort of committed long-term support for philanthropy We're not asking for that sort of support from everybody, but it's definitely philanthropists who can do two things Embrace ideas that may not be politically acceptable and to stay committed them Committed to them for a longer period of time than most governments And that's what we need in food security And unfortunately food security is not a natural issue for philanthropists and we have to somehow try to change that Actually that sounds like a good note to end this thing on Shall we say shall we applaud the panelists? And again, thank you to partners Asia Society give to Asia Asia Foundation Thank you all for being here and I believe the tables open