Five years ago, Howard G. Buffett was at a meeting of an international food aid agency when he was told that feeding the millions of starving people in Africa was simple.
Just give them better seeds, someone said.
That advice might work on some philanthropists. But Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffett, happens to be an Illinois farmer.
鈥淭his guy was explaining to me how to farm and he鈥檇 never been on a farm in his life,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o it really kind of irritated me. I came home and said, 鈥極K, I鈥檓 going to have data to show these guys.鈥欌€�
So Howard Buffett, a blunt pragmatist, built farming into a well-endowed , giving away tens of millions annually to global hunger causes while keeping it geeky with hands-on research into soils, irrigation and seed science.
The research is taking shape at his 1,400-acre farm in southeastern Arizona, where the climate mimics that of Africa; on plots at his 3,200-acre home place in Illinois; and at another 9,200-acre farm in South Africa.
Backing up the dollars with data has helped Buffett establish a humanitarian program that teaches African farmers how to be resilient, he said, which is the key to feeding the in the world who don鈥檛 have enough to eat.
鈥淧robably one of the biggest disconnects when I hear people talk about agriculture in Africa (is) they don鈥檛 farm for profit. They farm for consumption, and that changes everything,鈥� Buffett said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 even know how to do that here.鈥�
At his farm in Arizona, which he bought two years ago, research is catered to the African farmer. It鈥檚 small-scale and takes into consideration things very unlike the U.S. system, such as a lack of government subsidies. He鈥檚 even got two oxen here 鈥� he had to go to Colorado to get them 鈥� studying how the animals can pull farm equipment.
Half-jokingly, Buffett calls the Arizona research his 鈥淣on-Green Revolution for South Africa.鈥� He鈥檚 testing a mix of irrigation, fertilizer, genetically modified seed and conservation efforts, like no-till practices that help prevent soil erosion. He calls it 鈥渂iological farming,鈥� using
Mother Nature and man-made resources to a small farmer鈥檚 benefit.
鈥淵ou take the best of an organic system and you take the best of a high-production system and you figure out how to put those two together. And you figure out how to do that for a guy farming two acres,鈥� he said.
Buffett dreams the three labs being built here will soon be full of students from six schools, doing world-class research 鈥� what his father might call an investment.
鈥淚 consider everything we do an investment,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 either an investment in people or ideas.鈥�
This seems like a natural role for a guy who grew up in Omaha playing in the dirt and loving Tonka trucks but certainly not as likely for the oldest son of one of the world鈥檚 richest men.
Buffett, 58, started farming in his home state of Nebraska in the early 1980s, his famously frugal father charging him rent, and graduated from bulldozers to 400-horsepower tractors. He moved to central Illinois to work at ADM Co., the huge food processing conglomerate, and established his corn and soybean operation near Decatur.
His interest in Africa began as a wildlife photographer but he soon realized that the first step to protecting the country鈥檚 animals and environment was to combat its rampant food shortages. He combined his passion for agriculture with a sense of charitable giving he and his father have attributed to his late mother, Susan Buffett.
The Buffetts gave their three children the wherewithal to be charitable 鈥攖hrough what Warren Buffett calls 鈥渢he ovarian lottery.鈥� In addition to the millions Susan Buffett left to them when she died in 2004, Warren Buffett announced in 2006 that he would give a fraction of his fortune to his kids. But when the fortune is worth $40 billion, that slice still adds up to $2 billion to each of their foundations.
Howard Buffett tells his story in his soon-to-be-released book The title references an 鈥渁ha moment鈥� Buffett says he had in a farm equipment store in Assumption, Ill., a tiny town south of Decatur.
One winter day in 2001, Buffett attended a planting workshop and heard the speaker question what many consider the predictability of farming. Each season, a farmer has a chance to improve, to learn from mistakes, and if he鈥檚 lucky, he鈥檒l have 40 seasons to perfect this process, the speaker said.
鈥淚f I have 40 years or 40 chances to try to figure some of these things out, every year knocks one off. You better have a sense of urgency. And you can鈥檛 screw around,鈥� Buffett said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 look and say 鈥極h well, we鈥檒l do it next year.鈥欌€�
Buffett is also working to help fight hunger closer to home. He has established a national program called , which encourages farmers to donate an acre or more of crop profits to help feed people in their communities.
Buffett鈥檚 donations have allowed the Central Illinois Foodbank to move to a larger facility with better storage, said Kaleigh Friend, a spokeswoman. Each summer Buffett also donates several thousand pounds of sweet corn from his farm, which Friend says helps feed the one in four children in the area who have problems getting enough to eat.
鈥淭hings like Invest an Acre and people who have community gardens or farmland where they donate some fresh produce, that鈥檚 what really makes the difference in the long run here in central Illinois,鈥� she said.
Buffett鈥檚 book, 鈥�40 Chances鈥� will be published in October. That same month, he will be with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the World Food Prize Ceremony in Des Moines.
Those appearances will eat into harvest time, of course. The farmer philanthropist, who planted late like many in the Midwest because of a wet spring, could still be up in his combine.
"I'm extremely nervous!鈥� he said. 鈥淚 may pick corn in November for only the second time in my life!"
