More than 3 billion people, 43% of the world’s population, live on less than $2 per day. In the world’s poorest countries, people spend between 50-80% of their income on food.

These were some of the sobering statistics my ag-industry journalism colleagues and I heard last week from Marleen New, Director of Heifer International corporate and foundation relations.

New was speaking at a luncheon at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association annual meeting and convention in Nashville. New introduced a new initiative between her organization and Elanco Animal Health that everyone in agriculture can get behind.

This new initiative will raise up to $20,000 for Heifer International through the click of a mouse. By visiting www.heifer.org/Elancopartnership, Elanco will donate $1 to Heifer International for every unique visit to this landing page through March 2012.

If you’re not familiar with Heifer International, what is unique about it is that it offers a sustainable form of assistance in the form of the gift of cattle, sheep, goats and poultry that contribute milk, meet, eggs and offspring to some of the world’s poorest. Its ongoing power is that recipients are asked to then give away the first female offspring of their animal to someone else in need. Recipients are shown how to use the animal for breeding, work (i.e. plowing fields), manure/fertilization and food.

So make sure to visit Elanco’s Heifer International website and click for a cause. It’s a cause worth clicking for.