In a time of limited resources, the United States stands ready to help those nations that demonstrate the political will necessary to achieve food security. We will also step up our quest for a global farmers' market so agricultural goods can be traded across borders, meeting the food needs of the world. Used wisely, trade can serve as a food security valve, releasing extreme market pressures by spreading them more evenly around the world. It also promotes investment in the developing world. In these ways trade is essential to global food security.
History shows that protectionism and isolationism have never been the right answer.
Every nation must embrace the world and every farmer, including family farmers, should be empowered to compete in the global market. As we focus our attention on the concentration of hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, we should not turn a blind eye to its rise in the developed world, including the United States of America. Every nation owes its citizens a safety net that ensures the necessities of life and every nation should ensure that good food does not go to waste. Reducing post-harvest losses can dramatically enhance food security in the developed world. Even in the United States there are tremendous private efforts underway to rescue food that would otherwise spoil.