The estimated present value (US$42 million) of the proposed ILRI/ICRISAT/NARS collaborative research project on genetic improvement of millet and sorghum crop residues indicates fairly attractive returns, even with the cautious assumption made about likely adoption rates and the scope of the benefits (i.e. only meat and milk production in cattle in India). The estimated IRR to this research investment (28%) can be compared to market rates on alternative investments. Most longer-run, low-risk, private-sector investments yield rates of return three times as high as alternative investments. However, this raises the question of what is an appropriate rate of return to expect from 'public'good' type of investment such as the investment in international development oriented research. The same methodological approach was recently used (Kristjanson et al 1999) to estimate potential returns to a similary challenging crop-livestock research area, a vaccine against potential returns to a similarly challenging crop-livestock research area, a vaccine against trypanosomosis (a serious livestock disease that poses the greatest development constraint to mixed livestock-crop systems across Africa). Potential returns to this research were estimated at US$ 118 million, with an IRR of 25%, and a benefit:cost ratio of 15:1. In a comparison of predicted rates of return across 5 crop-livestock related research areas at ILRI, potential research benefits were estimated to outweigh the costs of the research by between 9 and 37 times. Returns of similar magnitudes have also been estimated for other crop improvement research. In an economic analysis of returns to 15 research themes at the Centro International de la Papa (CIP) the NPVs ranged from US$ 1 million to US$ 195 million (average US$ 67 million), with IRRs ranging from 13% to 51% (Walker and Collion 1997). ICRISAT ranked returns to 110 different research areas as part of their research priority-setting process several years ago. The average NPV, net benefit:cost ratio and IRR for the top 20 of those were US$ 61 million (with a range from US$ 8 million to US$ 265 million), 52:1 and 39%, respectively (Kelley et al 1995). Thus it appears that the magnitude of returns predicted in this study are very much in line with returns to similar research investments.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in sustainable dairy production, helping the industry to develop more sustainable dairy products, through new technologies, implementing life cycle analysis, and upgrading and optimization of their current production lines. It aims to stimulate process innovations, taking into account environmental, economic and public relations benefits for companies. Topics covered include: How to set up a sustainable production line How to quantify the carbon foot print of a dairy product by using life cycle analysis Current technologies to improve the carbon foot print What measures can be taken to reduce the global warming potential of the farm Reduction of water use in dairy production Marketing sustainable dairy products Bench marking of dairy products against other food products Potential future technological developments to improve the carbon foot print for the following decades

We are no longer able to provide the world population with a healthy diet and, at the same time, sustainably balance our planetary resources to ensure resilient and viable livelihoods for smallholder farmers. For the past fifty years, diets have become less nutritionally balanced, contribute significantly to climate change, and have accelerated the process of biodiversity erosion. We have reduced the number of species that are cultivated for food, and for each species, we are growing fewer varieties. While agriculture has moved towards uniformity, biodiversity is the basis of healthy and nutritious diets, and biodiversity is paramount for adapting crops to climate change. Hence, it is important to build resilient and sustainable food systems by re-introducing diversity into our agricultural systems and introducing “Smart Food” from smart crops into our diets. Smart Food is food that fulfills the criteria for being good for you (nutritious and healthy), good for the planet (environmentally sustainable); and beneficial to the farmers who grow these crops (resilient and viable). The aim of this Research Topic is to provide researchers, research managers, funding agencies, and government agencies with scientifically backed information to foster awareness, increased use, and support for research into Smart Food.