Good morning, good afternoon and good evening; depending upon the time in which you're tuning in.
My name is Lulama Ndibongo Traub. I am a lecturer in the department
of agriculture economics at the University of Stellenbosch.
All right! What I want to do today is talk to you about
a career in agriculture economics not being a “basic” career choice.
What do I mean by basic? Well according to the urban dictionary – “basic” is
defined as being only interested in things that are mainstream or typical.
In this presentation what I want to do is give you three reasons
why a career in agriculture economics is not basic. These are;
1. Largest Global Industry 2. Broad Scope-of-Work
3. Global Difference
Largest global industry: What do I mean by this?
Well as an agricultural economist you get to work in the food system or the agri-food industry.
As of 2019 according to Grand View Research, this industry was valued at 11.7 trillion USD;
The industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5%.
Again, this is according to Grand View Research; It is the largest private sector employer.
According to the World Atlas in 2018, Walmart (which owns Massmart in South Africa)
as well as McDonald’s were in the top five employers globally.
Walmart ranked third after the U.S.A. and the Chinese government military industries.
Walmart hired 2.1 million people in 2018, MacDonald’s hired 1.7 million people.
Broader scope-of-work: In terms of the agricultural or agri-food system there are many
levels of activities that occur along the value chain. There is the input level of
activities; production, primary production, processing levels, etc.
With a degree in agricultural economics, it opens up a career at any level of the value chain.
It really depends on your emphasis. For instance, if you come to the University of Stellenbosch
and you study agricultural economics with an emphasis in food sciences it offers you
an opportunity then to work at the processing level of the value chain. If instead you choose
an emphasis on soil or plant breeding then you can work at the production level of the value chain.
The second reason why I say this career offers you a broad scope of work is that this career
goes beyond traditional “office work”. This is a picture of a
conference call that took place in November 2020. Here what you see are 237 representatives from
37 countries involved in a conversation and the majority of the people pictured here
are ag economists, some of whom were calling in from the field. If you become an ag economist,
you're going to enter into career that goes beyond your typical office job.
The third reason why I say this career offers you a broader scope of work is that it allows
you to travel. I’ll use the example from my life.
Since becoming an ag economist I have travelled to seven out of six continents in the world. The only
continent I’ve not been on is Antarctica. I’ve travelled to these six continents because of work.
So as an ag economist you are entering into a career that offers you this opportunity to travel.
Making a difference: As an ag economist you enter into a career that gives you
the opportunity to make a difference in this world.
What do I mean? By 2050 we're expecting the global population to reach 10 billion
people. This is a challenge that the food industry faces. As ag economists
we're asking ourselves the question, will the food industry be able to feed 10 billion people?
Why the question? Because we face four challenges; On the one hand globally we still see
Malnutrition/hunger - we have pockets of places in the world where hunger continues to persist and rise.
On the other hand we have pockets of the world where we see obesity and unhealthy diets leading to obesity.
That is a challenge what we are grappling with in the food industry.
Another challenge that we are grappling with is this idea of high degree of food wastage
and this ties into the issue of logistics and how do we get the food in a tiny manner
from the farm to the table. That's an issue we are struggling with.
How do we improve that going forward.
Also, Natural Resource Constraints. We all know that South Africa for instance has experienced
draught and draught conditions, and we expect that this is going
to be a continued pressure on the food system.
These are the four challenges that the industry faces.
I am going to show you a video that highlights these issues for you, and if these issues
and challenges excite you, then definitely a career as a agriconomist is the career for you.
Here's the video:
Why do we need to change our food system?
Everyday you have to eat...
...just like the other 7.2 billion people that are on the planet.
By 2050 at least 2 billion more people will join you.
Will you be able to continue eating the same way.
Let's take a look together at 4 examples of our food system's limitations.
First limitation: One out of three people suffer from malnutrition.
794 million people suffer from hunger
and two billion people did not have sufficient access to vitamins and minerals
necessary for growth and development.
On the other hand, 1.9 billion people over eat.
And 600 million of those people are obese.
Consequently more people suffer from illnesses such as type 2 diabetes.
Second limitation: our food is too rich in fat, sugar, salt and meat.
This type of diet has an impact on health and the environment for example it can
lead to increased heart disease; and higher greenhouse gas emissions from meat production.
In addition our food is less diverse. 75% of our food now comes from only 12 plants
including rice, corn and wheat and from five animal species including cows, chickens and pigs.
Third limitation: One third of food is wasted.
Out of all the food we produce one-third is not consumed but thrown away.
Fourth limitation: Our Natural Resources are under pressure.
Sources of fresh water are running dry and existing water resources are becoming polluted.
33% of soils are degraded. Our biodiversity is threatened with tropical forests disappearing
and many plants and animals endangered; such as bees.
These problems are intensified by climate change.
Such limitations clearly show that our food system must be transformed.
Each step of the food system, production, processing, distribution, consumption; needs to be adjusted
to ensure healthier food
to our growing population
and to reduce it's environmental impact.
But above all it's necessary to bring all the stake holders together.
Government and Health authorities;
Producers, Consumers, Business people;
to break down the silent thinking, examine all the points of view,
and work together to define the actions necessary to produce and eat food differently.
For eg. reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and decrease levels of over consumption.
You too can participate in change. Ask yourself about the food you produce or eat;
eat a balanced diet, and reduce your food waste.
Given that video, if these challenges excite you; if you think
you've got some innovative ideas in order to transform the food system;
then we would welcome you to come to the University of Stellenbosch
and study at the department of Agricultural Economics.
With that then... Thank you.