An agricultural economist who first joined the UC Davis faculty in 1966, he has published extensively in international trade research. After retiring from the World Bank at the end of 1999, McCalla returned to UC Davis as professor emeritus. California Agriculture Executive Editor Janet White spoke with McCalla on how improving farm productivity in developing countries can help solve problems of food supply, rural poverty and environmental degradation . Nearly all of the increase of 2 billion people in the next 25 years will be in developing countries. Urban population in those countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion in the same period.
Urbanization has significant implications for the food system.
Every time one person moves from a rural to the urban setting, needed market supplies must double. Further, rising incomes shift the nature of demand. The second challenge for agriculture is to be an engine of growth and poverty reduction. We must develop technologies, policies and institutions to unleash agriculture's full potential as an engine of growth. This will require farmers to have access to both domestic and international markets.