With this policy brief, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs  aspires to add to the growing conversation about inclusive development through the lens of agriculture and food security. Agricultural development assistance is, at its core, a long-term investment and, as such, is well suited to the coming shifts in policy and funding. USAID’s lo- cal capacity development draft policy advocates for beginning with the local system, a critical step that mirrors the food security community’s move toward systems approaches to agriculture.