The world population is growing by 75 million people each year. That's almost the size of Germany. Today, we're nearing 7 billion people. At this rate, we'll reach 9 billion people by 2040. And we all need to eat. But how?
That's a critical issue the Institute on the Environment tackles in our first "Big Question" video. We hope the video will help launch a much bigger, national dialogue around agriculture and sustainability, so check it out and share it with your friends!
That's a critical issue the Institute on the Environment tackles in our first "Big Question" video. We hope the video will help launch a much bigger, national dialogue around agriculture and sustainability, so check it out and share it with your friends!
This video posits that we must double or even triple global food production to feed the growing population. Is that possible or even true? Can we compliment increasing production with using arable land for nutritional food that we eat for caloric value? It seems we (americans) get a great percentage of our daily caloric intake through eating fatty (corn-fed) beef and drinking sugary (high-fructose corn syrup). Are there any studies that look at the nutritional caloric intensity of the crops we grow? It seems by educating and shifting consumer choices towards healthier food we could make more nutritional foods available for the growing population. I for one would like to see some scientific collaboration of agriculture, nutrition, and land use to see what affects eating smarter/healthier would have on how much land we need for the growing population..... any suggestions/comments?
Justin, while I don't have the answers for you, this is a very good point. One of the things we need to consider in using land for agriculture is what we ultimately derive from it, whether in terms of economic, security or nutritional benefits.