(NAFB) – Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says more than 50 organizations and countries have declared support for the Coalition on Sustainable Productivity Growth for Food Security and Resource Conservation.

The U.S. launched the coalition at the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September. The goal of the coalition is to recognize the importance of sustainable productivity growth for meeting the food security and nutrition needs of current and future populations while, at the same time, conserving resources and combatting climate change.

The coalition will accelerate the transition to more sustainable food systems through productivity growth that optimizes agricultural sustainability across social, economic, and environmental dimensions.

“We initiated this because it’s clear that increasing agricultural productivity is essential to meet the needs of a growing global population and ensure that food is affordable to hundreds of millions of people around the world,” Vilsack says. “If we’re going to end hunger, we must commit to developing and deploying new ways of doing things in agriculture.”