3 ms·
Why does the food supply need to double to feed an extra 2 billion people?
by karamazov 13y ago
Why does the food supply need to double to feed an extra 2 billion people?
- talklittle 13y agoA lot of today's population is underfed or suffers from nutrient deficiencies. To "feed" today's population we already need to increase the global food supply. Here's a UN press release from 2009 titled "Food Production Must Double by 2050 to Meet Demand From World's Growing Population": http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/gaef3242.doc.htm http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/gaef3242.doc.htm
- joshuahedlund 13y agoI believe the theory is that we are currently on an unsustainable path that is drawing down our existing inventories of global food faster than we are replenishing them (ex. overfishing of oceans), so to feed 1) our first-world selves, 2) our third-world friends who are becoming first-word (i.e. eating more food), and 3) an additional 2/7 population... that will require a growth in the food supply. I think some of those on the more doom-mongering side tend to underestimate the general agricultural innovations of both past and future, and the market forces that drive them, but there are some compelling arguments that this may not be enough.