• Question: How will the world keep supplying food to the ever still growing population?

    Asked by to Sarah, Liz, Emilie on 5 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sarah Jose

      Sarah Jose answered on 5 Mar 2014:

      I think we need a combination of science and cultural change. We really need to avoid cutting down any more forest to grow crops, so the question is how to grow more food on the land that we have?

      Shockingly, around one third of all the food we produce is wasted, by farms, supermarkets and all of us at home. This is unacceptable in a world where we already have almost one billion people who go to bed hungry each night. The first thing we have to do is figure out how to make the most of what we already have.

      There is a lot of waste land in the world where we cannot currently grow anything. Scientific discoveries mean we are now able to remove pollutants from the soil, replace nutrients and get the land back up to farming quality.

      Genetically modified crops will also be important in the future. We can alter plants to make them last longer in storage (reducing waste), grow in poor conditions (increasing the food produced) and be more nutritious (meaning we need less food per person).

    • Photo: Emilie Combet

      Emilie Combet answered on 6 Mar 2014:

      I agree with Sarah there! In most developed countries, waste is a big issue, either bulk waste from the supermarkets, farms etc, or from each of us at home. There has been a big loss of skills which are an essential part of reducing food waste at home. Those are cooking from scratch, using food remains, planning meals, for example. In our society, we tend to see food as a disposable commodity, rather than treat it with respect. This will need to change in the future to address issues with both food supply chain and human health.

      Looking at the global food supply, we might have to consider shifts in the diet toward foods that can be produced more sustainably, or to foods that or not (yet) considered mainstream (for example, using algae as a food / energy source). Scientific advances to increase crop quality (especially once they have been harvested, or picked) will play an important role, as well as development of new breeds and GM crops.

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