Newspapers around the world report daily on the wars and other violent conflicts that typically result in 3,000 deaths per day. These same papers fail to report that 20,000 people die each day of causes related to hunger and extreme poverty. Over a billion people suffer from chronic food insecurity, yet they fail to capture public attention - even though the persistence of hunger and poverty also feeds violent conflict and weakens national and international security. Food security is particularly widespread in agricultural regions where resource scarcity and environmental degradation constrain productivity and income growth. This research area seeks to unravel the "deadly connections" among hunger, disease, environmental degradation, climate change and civil conflict in poor countries.