Noting “the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland this June will focus, in part, on the intersection of hunger, food, nutrition,” Sam Dryden, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development initiative, writes in the foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, “As our global leaders draft agendas and assemble working groups, however, it is critical that they also seek out and listen to the voices of … farmers and community leaders on the ground in Africa and in the labs, marketplaces, and government offices throughout the continent.” He notes this week, “African civil society groups and farmers organizations together sent a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, calling upon the G8 to align their investments in agriculture with the priorities of African governments and their smallholder farmers,” and he describes community representatives from Africa, Asia and elsewhere attended the recent Hunger, Nutrition, and Climate Justice Conference in Ireland. “I applaud this effort and it is high time we in the broader development community did more of this — listen more than we talk and orient ourselves and our work around the needs and wants of families and communities on the ground,” he concludes (5/2).