40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World

Howard G. Buffett (HGB) is a photojournalist at heart. If 40 Chances had been published with stories to bring out the essence of his pictures, this would have been a coffee table volume, much admired, but of little impact to most of those in the development community driven by a plethora of words.Howard and his investment banker father, Warren Buffett, were greatly influence by Warren's wife who used her endowment from Warren's financial empire to change the lives of the poorest global citizens. Warren endowed his three children with similar funds with the caveat that they actively manage their foundations. Warren chose to manifest his epiphany by realizing that philanthropy was not his calling and, thus, gave a large portion of his personal wealth to be managed by the Gates Foundation. Howard, on the other hand managed his billion dollar endowed foundation by actively pursuing the hard part of global philanthropy, supporting that dimension, management infrastructure not readily visible and thus not easily funded by other agencies, public or private.40 Chances is a series of short essays selectively chosen from his global travels to "experience" the issues surrounding development efforts, primarily around his second love, agriculture. This included management of his 1500-acre farm in Illinois to small farms in Africa worked by hand. Throughout the book he emphasizes that since he actively managed the foundation, his successes and particularly the failures encountered were his, from which to learn and grow.His was a luxury not given to the majority of those working in the development world and whose funding depended on demonstrating "success". This, in a large part involved being able to show physical results, buildings, acres planted, schools or appropriate technologies. HGB chose to fund the "invisible". One senses the irony and his frustration in the one photo where he has blanked out a sign placed in front of a yet to be finished project- a sign announcing who sponsored this project and whom those who come should recognize and appreciate. It is the same frustration that has been felt by many who have traveled globally and have winced at encountering these signs and are reminded of Shelly's poem, Ozymandias. As a noted futurist said, "you can get social change, or credit. You can't get both".In all the examples chosen for this book we see these efforts through the lens of HGB, the photographer. And like the best of these journalists, one sees the risks he took to experience the reality and feel his commitment to put his foundation's funds on the line, to take a chance against the odds. While both successes and failures are represented along with the twisting paths, physically, socially, and politically, 40 Chances is not a set of case studies that one can puzzle through for prescriptive insights.As HGB points out, his is a unique journey. Few are blessed with the resources, fiscal, social and political that allowed him to not only experience the world through his lenses but also to take the personal risks, celebrate small victories and accept when the best intentions went awry. The photographer takes a hundred shots to get the one that tells the tale. That selective economy creates great art. Unfortunately, neither the author nor the editors had that same sensitivity to the narrative portion of the volume.There are too many stories. And while each is unique, most skim over the top, often saved by the photographer's lens. Unless one is new to the development industry, and it is an industry, many of the lessons learned by HGB's experience are well understood and documented many times over-not the same but sufficiently similar to get that sense of déjà vu. He paid a heavy price to have an "original" experience and the insight to reach the conclusions that many others also have had. What is missing is a time-lapse photograph or narration showing the evolution of those projects that apparently were considered successful.HGB's oft repeated aim was the commitment to invest in the invisible, the hard to document infrastructure that is often critical but often unfunded and which, as has been well documented, leaves projects often uncompleted, or, if finished, lacking in the resources to effectively put them into motion and driving them to sustainability. As the book points out, soils in Africa are essentially "worn out" by time itself, years of neglect, abuse and mismanagement. Restoring the earth, the difference between "dirt" and "soil", is a long-term commitment but one that HGB has set about to accomplish. In pursuing this path, immediate needs of food and shelter, corruption and human frailties often intervene with short-time demands on human resources.And, herein, is the author's and the book's major flaw. The camera's lens responds to the here and now. The human condition draws the camera in to the moment, one that has an immediate need but one that also distracts. A group of tourists were traveling across the Sahara on a safari. The guide said that the group would see people begging for water. If the group distributed resources to these individuals there would not be enough water for the group to complete the trip. And that is the human dilemma that 40 Chances does not address. HGB realizes that some of those caught in his lens will be dead in the morning but the lens is silent on what that means to all on this planet.Zorba: Why do the young die? Why does anybody die?Basil: I don't know.Zorba: What's the use of all your damn books? If they don't tell you that, what the hell do they tell you?Basil: They tell me about the agony of men who can't answer questions like yours.Is a picture worth a thousand words?

I have just finished reading 40 Chances and I am filled with hope that world hunger and food insecurity has some amazing people who think the big picture and are putting in the hard yards to really solve the problem. This is the first time I have felt compelled to acknowledge a book in this way. I think the Buffet family, all three generations are examples of people who are using their wealth in ways that benefit all. Well off people also now have an example of how to work harder, think of others and most importantly to find other like minded people with whom they can form partnerships to do better.I have known about Warren Buffet for quite a while and had bought my father, a retired banker, Snowball which he read and advised me to also read, but I knew little of his children and grandchildren. I was sitting in Hamburg eating my lunch watching Piers Morgan, which I came in half way through and saw the three generations of Buffets and heard about the book 40 Chances and by the time the interview was finished I had downloaded the book to my Kindle.I was born in outback Australia and grew up in country NSW for the first 10 years of my life and although I was then a city child I have a connection to the country. Having seen first hand what happens to soil with traditional tilling I believe H G B and H W B are on the right track. Thanks also for letting us know what others are doing in this field. It was good to hear about the failures as well as the successes as failure leads to better outcomes next time and it is good that failures can be seen as a learning exercise and not a blame game.I am now going to buy 2 more copies of this book in paper form for my father who grew up on a dairy farm and my for brother a high school geography teacher who I am sure will read this book and spread the word.Thanks to all the Buffets for appearing on CNN for otherwise I may not have known about this book and wouldn't have read it. You have given me the power to help spread the word buy being able to talk to others about this book and to also give this book to others to spread the word. Who knows to where it will lead. I hope to an answer to world hunger and food security for all and I sincerely hope that one day you will put yourself out of work in this area and move on to something else that needs big picture thinkers. I give this book 5 stars and recommend it as a must read for anyone who cares about what happens to our world.

Inspirational and a great collection of real life stories. A true and pragmatic picture of today's world..... Everyone needs to help in their own capacity. Best, Jonathon

*A full executive summary of this book is available at newbooksinbrief dot com.The main argument: In the developed world, the vast majority of us enjoy a standard of living unmatched in the history of humankind—and going hungry is the last thing on our minds. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that poverty and hunger have been eradicated in the developed world entirely (in the United States, for example, 1 in 6 are considered food insecure—including 16 million children). Still, the greatest problems with poverty and hunger continue to exist in the developing world. Indeed, despite substantial improvements over the past 30 years, poverty remains a significant issue, and nearly a billion of the world’s 7 billion people still face chronic hunger (while about twice that number are malnourished in some way)—and millions starve to death every year.It is not that many well intentioned people and organizations have not spent a great deal of time and money trying to solve the world’s poverty and hunger issues. Indeed, over the past half century the amount of resources that have been poured into these problems is staggering. So, just why do the problems of poverty and hunger stubbornly persist?Well, at least part of it has to do with the fact that there are several significant obstacles standing in the way—everything from armed conflict, to corrupt governments, to particular cultural practices etc. The humanitarian Howard G. Buffet has been involved in fighting poverty and hunger for upwards of 30 years, and knows these obstacles all too well. However, Buffet insists that there is yet another reason why all of the well-intentioned efforts have fallen short of reaching their ultimate goal. And that is that many of the approaches have proven to be inadequate (if not downright counter-productive).The fact is that most of the aid flowing to the poorest parts of the world has been (and continues to be) in the form of projects that are meant to help people in the short-term. For example, NGOs commonly enter an area, drop off bags of seed and fertilizer, and then turn around and leave. This approach may help the area for a season or two, but in the end the seed and fertilizer do run out, and the community is right back to square one. Thus the approach acts more as a band-aid, than a self-sustaining solution that addresses the root causes of poverty and hunger.Thankfully, in Buffet’s 30 years of work as a philanthropist he has learned that there is indeed a better approach, and one that stands a much better chance of rooting out poverty and hunger for good. The more effective approach is much less about aid as development—less about helping people as enabling people to help themselves.The development approach involves linking subsistence farmers up with the larger economy, and establishing a self-sustaining ecosystem that will allow this connection to be maintained into the future. It involves things like helping to establish agricultural schools and private seed companies; working with farmers to improve farming techniques and yields (and not in a way that assumes that what has worked well in one place—or one’s own backyard—will work everywhere); establishing grain storage systems; physically connecting farmers to markets; and working with governments to establish and maintain the infrastructure (especially roads) needed to make the system work smoothly.The development approach may be more involved and take longer to get off the ground, but it pays off in the end, as when it is done well, it only has to be done once (Buffet speaks often about NGOs needing to take an approach that ultimately puts themselves out of business).And helping impoverished farmers join the larger economy is not just a matter of helping them help themselves. The fact is that the world’s population is continuing to grow, while we are running out of good farmland to farm. The UN estimates that in order to feed the world’s projected 9 billion people by 2050, farmers everywhere will need to increase the planet’s food production by 70%. Part of the solution to this problem must involve helping the world’s subsistence farmers to produce a surplus to help everyone.But the solution doesn’t end there. Farmers everywhere, including in the developed world, will need to increase their yields to meet the growing demand. However—and this is important—farmers will need to increase their yields in a sustainable way. That is, they will need to do so in a way that does not degrade the soil, or threaten the world’s fresh water or woodlands—as too often happens now.Thankfully, Buffet’s experience as a farmer (which he has been practising even longer than philanthropy) has shown him that here too there is a solution. And a big part of this solution is a very straightforward approach known as no-till farming. No-till farming is an approach that eschews tilling the soil in favor of planting nitrogen-fixing cover crops. The approach not only increases water retention, saves soil, and reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, it also helps increase yields (and thus it’s a win-win solution). Now it’s just a matter of convincing other farmers of this—which is a big part of Buffet’s project.This is a fantastic book. Don't let the fact that Buffet is the son of one of the wealthiest men on the planet dissuade you from taking him seriously. The author may have had a head start in life, but he stands on his own two legs, and he has used his privileged position to help him gain perspective (rather than let it make him arrogant and entitled). Anyone interested in the hunger problem (and the best way to approach it) would be well advised to read this book. A full executive summary of the book is available at newbooksinbrief dot com; a podcast discussion of the book will be available soon.

A good read with the clearer knowledge now of how lucky we are in our Australian society. Extremely enlightening of the hunger plight throughout the World. The frightening thing is how the hunger repetition seems to happen from one continent to another. Devotion by the author to do whatever possible to rectify poor situations can only be congratulated. Young people with the energy should read this book and move on to make the World better.

This met all my expectations and more...would recommend this to anyone..it's wonderful to see how these people can make so many other people happy.

Wer sich schon immer gefragt hat, warum Hilfe nicht ankommt und wie man es besser machen, dieses Buch gibt Einblicke in Hintergründe und eröffnet neue Sichtweisen.