Food Evolution

• Author: Maria Jovanović

Food Evolution Finance & Development, December 2016, Vol. 53, No. 4

Maria Jovanović

Increased agricultural efficiency and productivity are critical for future food security

More than 750 million agricultural laborers around the world produce the food that sustains all 7.4 billion people on Earth.

Although global food production can feed everyone, food security remains a problem in many places. Because most food is consumed domestically, markets and distribution are influenced by country-specific factors such as weather conditions, poor infrastructure, and poverty. Food is only a small portion of total global trade, but food sovereignty and protection of domestic farmers are longtime sticking points in trade negotiations.

Rapid population growth, largely in cities, has outpaced domestic food production in many countries, leading to increased reliance on food imports in several. Since 1990, 27 countries have switched from being net exporters to importers of food. Though not a problem for wealthy economies, some impoverished countries have struggled to finance the new imports. To add to developing economies’ difficulties, the newfound need for food imports coincides with a nonfood commodity price bust that has reduced their export receipts.

The number of countries that will face food insecurity will surely grow. If all currently available agricultural land were put into use by 2050, the world could feed, at best, only 9 billion of the projected 9.7 billion population. This estimate overlooks the downside of large-scale land use expansion: deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and increased carbon emissions—all of which contribute to climate change and take a toll on crop yields and livestock productivity. Future food supply increases must come from greater productivity of land that’s already cultivated.

Technology may help farmers increase yields of nutritious crops sustainably and...