The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture says Illinois has a big role to play in the fight for global food security.
Secretary Tom Vilsack told University of Illinois students yesterday it will fall on their shoulders to figure out a way to increase food production in the next 35 years, as much as it increased in the last 10,000 years.
In his speech at the U of I Urbana campus, Vilsack said Illinois’s top crop plays an integral role in global trade.
“The reality is, trade is critically important to meeting global food security needs,” Vilsack said. “You ask any soybean producer in Illinois where their soybeans go, and they will tell you: part of them goes to China.”
Vilsack says trade deals like talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership will sustain not only the world’s 825 million who are “food insecure,” but also Illinois farmers who produce traded resources.
The secretary visited Illinois to announce a $100 million investment in biofuel infrastructure; $12 million will go to the state.
