The Royal Society: We Need To Increase Global Food Supplies By 70% In The Next 40 Years

The Royal Society of UK has published a set of papers on the future of the global food industry. Among the highlights of the report is the concern that millions of people will go hungry even with new advancements in food technology such as genetic modification. The report also discusses low cost methods to increase agriculture yield and alternative foods that would reduce the demand on conventional food items such as meat.

The Guardian has more on the study:

Artificial meat grown in vats may be needed if the 9 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 are to be adequately fed without destroying the earth. Several studies suggest farmers will be up against environmental limits by 2050, as industry and consumers compete for water. One group of US scientists suggests that feeding the 3 billion extra people could require twice as much water by then. This, says Professor Kenneth Strzepek of the University of Colorado, could mean an 18% reduction in worldwide water availability for food growing by 2050.

Other papers suggest a radical rethink of global food production is needed to reduce its dependence on oil. Up to 70% of the energy needed to grow and supply food at present is fossil-fuel based which in turn contributes to climate change. “Major advances can be achieved with the concerted application of current technologies and the importance of investing in research sooner rather than later to enable the food system to cope with challenges in the coming decades,” says the paper led by the population biologist Charles Godfray of Oxford University.

The Royal Society

Guardian: “Artificial meat? Food for thought by 2050″

Image by Erwyn van der Meer