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Feeding the planet responsibly is one of the most important challenges facing humankind today. By 2050, the world population will reach the 9 billion mark, with a consequent increase in food demand. Additionally, poverty alleviation progress will lead the growing middle class shifting food consumption patterns to a greater intake of animal proteins. Animal production is, consequently, expected to progressively grow (and change), leading to a higher connectivity of production systems and trade at a global scale. New challenges are subsequently being faced, most notably, the increasing risk for disease epidemics and emergent diseases associated with the increase in global trade. Quantitative epidemiology and economics may play a role, under the One Health paradigm, in protecting productivity and health, and promoting development at local and global scales. For example, although sub-Saharan Africa’s share of global exports is minimum, it was worth ~$455 billion in 2013, which was ~10 times the amount of aid the region received the same year. Even a minimum increase in the region participation of the share of global exports, associated with appropriate policy for sharing and distribution, would have an impact on its development. There is a need to progressively supplement or replace aid-based approaches for sustainable development models, built upon private and public partnerships. In parallel, the volume and complexity of agricultural and livestock data, which has grown to levels never seen in history over the past decade, has not necessarily resulted on a consequent ability to improve the quality of our information to inform policy. An emerging grand challenge is the ability to apply quantitative epidemiology and economics tools to improve the quality of our management and policy decisions, with the ultimate objective of improving access to food and development as a mean to improve health and wealth of local and global communities.