The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2009

net/uploaded/pdf/feedtheworld_ southgate_april2009.pdf ). In “Feed the World: The Challenge of Agricultural Development,” Ohio State University Prof. Douglas South- gate argues that governments’ re- sponses — “such as bans on food exports in emerging economies, cod- dling of biofuels development and needless restrictions on agricultural biotechnology” — were the primary cause of the crisis that began in 2007 and certainly prolonged it. “If governments are serious about solving the food crisis,” he writes, “they should eliminate the barriers to food production and distribution that they have created.” Southgate recom- mends scrapping agricultural subsi- dies; scrapping import and export restrictions on farm goods as well as in- puts such as fertilizer, pesticides and new crop varieties; improving protec- tion of property rights; eliminating subsidies and trade protection for bio- fuel development; and taking full ad- vantage of biotechnology. These, of course, are hot-button is- sues for farm lobbies everywhere, not least here in the U.S. But though the Obama administration ran into strong resistance to its effort to cut farm sub- sidies in next year’s budget, a recent poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org , sponsored by the Program on Interna- tional Political Attitudes at the Uni- versity of Maryland, found that the American public, even in farm states, favors eliminating most subsidies ( www.worldpublicopinion.org ) . — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor No More Reports? At an event marking the release of the Center for U.S. Global Engage- ment’s report, “Putting Smart Power to Work,” former Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “When I became Secretary of State, I had 20 reports waiting for me. And my staff said, let’s have a summary of the reports. I said, no, we’re not going to do any more reports, we’re not going to summarize anything; we’re going to go up to Congress and fight like dogs to get money. …We could have a lovely chat here about all of this stuff, but I’m telling you, it comes down to trench warfare with the Congress.” The report and a transcript of the lively, high-level discussion of de- velopment and diplomacy imperatives are available online ( www.usglobal engagement.org/Events/Putting SmartPowertoWork/tabid/3636/ Default.aspx ). ■ — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 C Y B E R N O T E S 50 Years Ago... I t is my belief that they [the State Department] are still dominated by the feeling of the Foreign Service. … They still view themselves as emissaries from one government to another. And in this day and age, the problem has gone far beyond that. They must be ministers and, in a sense, missionaries to the people, even though they defend the interests of this nation at the same time. — Senator Paul H. Douglas, D-Ill., on the use of counterpart funds during congressional discussion on the foreign aid bill in July 1959; cited in “Washington Letter,” FSJ , August 1959.