Foundation to fast track livestock grants

摘要

LIVESTOCK farming is shifting to the fast track as a key intervention in the global battle against hunger and poverty, according to Dr. Gregg BeVier of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As the world's largest private foundation, it allocates more than $3 billion annually to give to initiatives that foster health innovations, global community development and education in the U.S. The foundation started funding agriculture in 2006 as a way to help small farmers increase their productivity and to reduce hunger in poverty. Livestock farming is becoming an important component of that investment portfolio, BeVier, senior program officer for livestock investment, told the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar. More than $92 million in foundation grants went to livestock initiatives over the past several years, and that is expected to increase over the next decade.