Walmart launched a new global campaign around sustainable agriculture focused on helping “small and medium sized farmers expand their businesses, get more income for their products, and reduce the environmental impact of farming, while strengthening local economies and providing customers around the world with long-term access to affordable, high-quality, fresh food.” “In the U.S., Walmart’s Heritage Agriculture program will help the company double the sale of locally grown food. The program focuses on sourcing produce from states and regions with long histories of agricultural production."
“What is needed is a better approach to help the poor, an approach that involves partnering with them to innovate and achieve sustainable win-win scenarios where the poor are actively engaged and, at the same time, the companies providing products and services to them are profitable.”
Acknowledging the passing of C.K. Prahalad. From his book The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits
The advanced economies accounted for two thirds of the world economy as recently as 2000. Today, the emerging economies account for just over one half of the global economy, and will hit two thirds by 2016.Projections for 2011-2016: GDP Growth in emerging market and developing economies will be 5.8% vs. 1.5% in advanced economies. Of the 4.2% projected growth in GDP worldwide, emerging markets will account for 86% (3.6% growth on their own).
The Conference Board Global Economic Outlook 2010
Amid an ongoing debate in the U.S. on immigration from Mexico, Gallup estimates 6.2 million Mexican adults would like to move permanently to the United States if given the chance. That number pales in comparison with the estimated 22.9 million adults who would come from China and 17.1 million from India.
