The only way we can feed 10 billion people by 2050 is if the farming and food industries become much more sustainable. And that requires changes to the whole model of growing, processing, transporting, storing and selling. It means a lot of businesses and governments need to take action. But so too do we all.
Given that demand for animal-based foods is projected to grow by 70 percent by 2050 and that pastureland accounts for two thirds of agricultural land use, boosting pasture productivity is an important solution.
Dec 5, 2018
Who will feed the world in 2050?
The spread of prosperity across the world, especially in China and India, is driving an increased demand for meat, eggs, and dairy, boosting pressure to grow more corn and soybeans to feed more cattle, pigs, and chickens.
How do we feed the planet in 2050?
- Design out waste in products and processes
- Use materials again for next life
- Reuse water and return clean to the community
How much food will the world need in 2050?
Because of growing global population — experts estimate the world will have 10 billion mouths to feed in 2050, vesus 7.3 billion today — agricultural output will need to increase by 50 percent, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in “The Future of Food and Agriculture: Trends and Challenges.”
Will we have enough food in 2050?
There Won’t Be Enough Food To Feed The World In 2050 If we spread all the food on the planet out evenly, everyone would have enough to eat. Small comfort to the people without food now. But in less…
How will farmers feed the world in 2050?
According to estimates compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by 2050 we will need to produce 60 per cent more food to feed a world population of 9.3 billion. Doing that with a farming-as-usual approach would take too heavy a toll on our natural resources.
What will agriculture look like in 2050?
“By 2050, there will be gene-edited crops, and it will trigger a much wider variety of crops being grown,” says Norman. This new technology allows scientists to precisely edit genes in DNA with the goal of creating a better crop variety.
How much do we need to increase food production by 2050?
about 60-70 percentThe general consensus is that global agriculture production has to be increased by about 60-70 percent from the current levels to meet the increased food demand in 2050. This takes into account several factors.
Can organic agriculture sustainably feed the world in 2050?
There is no clear-cut answer. Adrian Müller, senior researcher at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), and his co-authors show that a 100% conversion to organic agriculture reduces nitrogen surplus and pesticide use but needs more land than conventional agriculture because it has lower yields.
What will be the future of agriculture?
Future agriculture will use sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology. These advanced devices and precision agriculture and robotic systems will allow farms to be more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly.
Will we run out of food in 2050?
According to Professor Cribb, shortages of water, land, and energy combined with the increased demand from population and economic growth, will create a global food shortage around 2050.
How will we feed the population in 2050?
Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable. A global shift towards healthy and more plant-based diets, halving food loss and waste, and improving farming practices and technologies are required to feed 10 billion people sustainably by 2050, a new study finds.
Can we grow enough food to feed the world?
The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed 1.5x the global population. That’s enough to feed 10 billion (we are at 7.6 billion currently).
Can sustainable agriculture feed the world?
The truth is that yes, organic can feed the world! Organic can compete with conventional yields and outperform conventional in adverse weather. Small farmers using organic methods have huge potential to expand global food production.
How does sustainable agriculture solve world hunger?
Thus, improving agricultural productivity helps address both hunger and poverty: not only does it increase the amount of food available, it stimulates economic growth by creating jobs, both on- and off-farm, which raise people’s incomes and enable them to purchase food.
Will organic agriculture will save hunger?
By increasing returns on the labor farmers invest in their farms – and reducing the cost of inputs – organic agriculture can help to battle poverty. Building on local management skills and resources and enabling local communities of farmers, fisherfolk and pastoralists to be food self-sufficient and combat poverty.
Why can’t organic farmers feed the world?
This nitrogen is ultimately derived from artificial fertilizers used to grow crops to feed the animals on conventional farms. In a worldwide organic scenario envisioned by the researchers, this would not be possible, so the nitrogen scarcity would be critical. This would lead to worldwide famine.
How many people will be in agriculture by 2050?
A s our global population continues to rise, some estimates suggest it could reach a whopping 10 billion people by 2050. To feed that many people, we will need to produce record quantities of food.
How many people will we feed by 2050?
The only way we can feed 10 billion people by 2050 is if the farming and food industries become much more sustainable. And that requires changes to the whole model of growing, processing, transporting, storing and selling. It means a lot of businesses and governments need to take action. But so too do we all.
Why are robots good for farming?
One reason small, mobile robots could be good news for farming is that they can replace a lot of the work done by large conventional tractors. Ordinary tractors are heavy. When they roll across the field they compact the soil. That crushes the gaps inside, reducing the size of the pores that hold air and water. This compaction significantly affects the soil’s ability to hold onto water and so a crop’s ability to take that up, along with the nutrients.
Which country will halve the amount of discarded food by 2030?
The Dutch government has pledged to become the first European country to halve the amount of discarded food by 2030. There are countless brilliant ideas and initiatives hoping to help, but one approach that I thought was brilliant was using apps like “Too Good To Go”.
Which country has the biggest waste problem?
An estimated third of all food produced ends up rotting in the bins of consumers and retailers. One country with a big waste problem is the Netherlands – the second biggest exporter of agricultural products (by value) after the US. The sheer scale of the flow of food through the Netherlands means waste is a big issue.
Can robots pull heavy machinery?
Now, a small robot can’t pull large, heavy machinery like a tiller or cultivator. But they’re not looking to simply repeat traditional farming methods.
How can we increase food production without a new land?
Planting and harvesting existing croplands more frequently, either by reducing fallow land or by increasing “double cropping” (planting two crops in a field in the same year), can boost food production without requiring new land. Increasing annual cropping intensity by 5 percent beyond the 2050 baseline of 87 percent would shrink the land gap by 14 percent and the GHG mitigation gap by 6 percent. Researchers should conduct more spatially explicit analyses to determine where cropping intensity increases are most feasible, factoring in water, emissions and other environmental constraints.
How much will the land gap close in 2050?
A 20 percent faster increase in crop yields between 2010 and 2050—as a result of improvements in crop breeding and soil and water management—could close the land gap by 16 percent and the GHG mitigation gap by 7 percent.
How can farmers improve soil and water management?
Farmers can boost crop yields in degraded soils—particularly drylands and areas with low carbon—by improving soil and water management practice s.
How much will pastureland increase in 2050?
Given that demand for animal-based foods is projected to grow by 70 percent by 2050 and that pastureland accounts for two thirds of agricultural land use, boosting pasture productivity is an important solution. A 25 percent faster increase in the output of meat and milk per hectare of pasture between 2010 and 2050 could close …
What is the food gap?
The food gap is mostly driven by population growth, of which half is expected to occur in Africa, and one third in Asia. Most of the world is close to achieving replacement-level fertility by 2050 (2.1 children per woman).
How much of the marine stocks were overfished in 2015?
One third of marine stocks were overfished in 2015, with another 60 percent fished at maximum sustainable levels. Catches need to be reduced today to allow wild fisheries to recover enough just to maintain the 2010 fish-catch level in 2050. This would avoid the need to convert 5 million hectares of land to supply the equivalent amount of fish from aquaculture. Actions to take include implementing catch shares and community-based management systems, and removing perverse subsidies that support overfishing, estimated at $35 billion annually.
How can agriculture help the ecosystem?
To avoid these results, productivity gains must be explicitly linked with efforts to protect natural ecosystems from conversion to agriculture . Governments, financiers and others can tie low interest credit to protection of forests, as Brazil has done, and ensure that infrastructure investments do not come at the expense of ecosystems.
What are the steps to feeding the world in 2050?
Four Steps to Feeding the World in 2050. Improving market access for smallholder farmers is vital for lifting poor farmers out of poverty and increasing productivity. Curt Carnemark/World Bank.
How many people will be in the world by 2050?
The world faces the looming challenge of feeding an expanding population that is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, from just over 7 billion today, while climate change increases uncertainty.
Why is supporting smallholder farmers important?
Smallholder farmers, particularly women farmers who produce most of the food crops in developing countries, are important to future productivity gains. Helping them to produce higher yields – through research, education, access to markets, land tenure policies, microcredit and microinsurance – will lead to greater production and prosperity.
How can agriculture meet the nutritional needs of a growing population?
Agriculture will need to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population using the same amount of land and the same amount of water used today, while also relying less on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Doing that will require investing in research, increasing sustainable intensification of agriculture, and creating access to new technologies and processes that are effective, environmentally friendly, and equitable. Some examples Conway mentioned: microdosing techniques that localize fertilizer; intercropping that can add nitrogen to the soil naturally; and creating more nutritious crops through breeding and science.
How can government policies help farmers?
Government policies can help support these environments and minimize risks for smallholder farmers.
What countries did Conway study?
He suggests studying Ghana and how its policies have helped improve rural livelihoods and reduce hunger, and to learn from Brazil, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, among other countries. Conway also recognized that getting agriculture going is not always easy, and that tradeoffs may be necessary.
What are the challenges of drought?
The world faces the looming challenge of feeding an expanding population that is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, from just over 7 billion today , while climate change is increasing uncertainty for farmers.
How much will the world population grow in 2050?
World population is expected to grow by over a third, or 2.3 billion people, between 2009 and 2050. This is a much slower rate of growth than the one seen in the past four decades during which it grew by 3.3 billion people, or more than 90 percent. Nearly all of this growth is forecast to take place in the developing countries. Among the latter group, sub-Saharan Africa’s population would grow the fastest (+114 percent) and East and Southeast Asia’s the slowest (+13 percent). Urbanization is foreseen to continue at an accelerating pace with urban areas to account for 70 percent of world population in 2050 (up from 49 percent at present) and rural population, after peaking sometime in the next decade, actually declining. At the same time, per capita incomes in 2050 are projected to be a multiple of today’s levels. There is a consensus among analysts that recent trends whereby the economies of developing countries have been growing significantly faster that the developed ones is likely to continue in the future. Relative inequality in per capita incomes would be reduced considerably by 2050. However, absolute differences would remain pronounced and could even increase further, given the current huge gaps in absolute per capita incomes. Moreover, inter-country and inter-regional inequalities within the present-day developing world would tend to become more pronounced. The projected global economic growth of about 2.9 percent annually would lead to a significant reduction or even near elimination of absolute “economic” poverty in the developing countries (persons living on less than US$1.25/day in 2005 prices). Nevertheless, even in 2050 the world will still be far from solving the problem of economic deprivation and malnutrition of significant parts of the population: the US$1.25/day poverty line is simply too low. On less stringent criteria, deprivation and undernutrition will remain widespread, though significantly less than today. These trends mean that market demand for food would continue to grow. Demand for cereals, for both food and animal feed uses is projected to reach some 3 billion tonnes by 2050, up from today’s nearly 2.1 billion tonnes. The advent of biofuels
How much energy will be available in 2050?
Current projections suggest that average daily energy availability could reach 3050 kcal per person by 2050 (2970 kcal in the developing countries), up from 2770 kcal in 2003/05. However, the same projections suggest that production increases alone would not be sufficient to ensure food security for everyone. Unless governments make sure access to food by the needy and vulnerable is significantly improved, and while the prevalence of chronic undernourishment in developing countries could fall from 16.3 percent (823 million) in 2003/05 to 4.8 percent in 2050, this would still mean that some 370 million persons would be undernourished in 2050. Of the three developing regions with the highest numbers of undernourished people currently, declines would be most pronounced in Asia (both East and South Asia), but less so in sub-Saharan Africa. On these prospects, the World Food Summit target of halving the numbers of hungry people by 2015 (from the 813 million of 1990/92) may not be reached until well into the 2040s. These calculations underline the importance of putting in place effective poverty reduction strategies, safety nets and rural development programmes.
What are the challenges of agriculture in the 21st century?
Agriculture in the 21st century faces multiple challenges: it has to produce more food and fibre to feed a growing population with a smaller rural labour force, more feedstocks for a potentially huge bioenergy market, contribute to overall development in the many agriculture-dependent developing countries, adopt more efficient and sustainable production methods and adapt to climate change.
How much fertilizer is used in SSA?
The average amount of fertilizer applied in SSA was only about 9 kilograms per hectare in 2002, against the global average of 101 kilograms. This gap clearly indicates that African agriculture has enormous productivity potential if only it had better access to fertilizers.
What is ICM in agriculture?
AfricaRice has shown that integrated crop management (ICM), a step-wise approach of integrating new technological options into production systems with full farmer participation, is a promising way for SSA, in view of the large gaps between actual farmers’ yields and attainable yields under better management. In Mali, ICM technological options increased its average rice yield in irrigated areas from 2 to 6 tons per hectare.
What is agricultural extension?
Agricultural extension and advisory service represent another key area of investment to stimulate agricultural productivity in SSA through widespread dissemination of new information and knowledge.
Why is closing the yield gap important in SSA?
Closing the yield gap for the main staple food crops in SSA is critical to increase agricultural productivity while meeting the regional and global food security challenge.
How does agriculture contribute to the economy in SSA?
In SSA, agriculture remains a powerful engine for economic growth, food security, and poverty reduction, accounting for 35% of GDP, 75% of employment, and 40% of exports. Estimates say that a dollar of farm income increases the overall economy (e.g., $1.88 in Burkina Faso and $1.48 in Zambia). Despite this, SSA governments have failed to prioritize the sector and to reverse decades of policy bias against agricultural production.
What is the importance of infrastructure in SSA?
In addition, core infrastructure such as electricity, storage, and rural roads is vital to transform SSA’s agriculture. For instance, better road infrastructure would help reduce transportation costs and improve access to markets.
What was the rate of crop growth in 1960?
Moreover, the rate of yield growth of major cereal crops dropped from 3.2% per year in 1960 to 1.5% in 2000. While environmental degradation heightens in several parts of the world, the potential for an increased use of agriculturally critical natural resources such as land and water is declining. Climate change is aggravating the severity and uncertainty of weather events.
