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Monday, November 18, 2013

Can the World Feed Nine Billion People by 2050?

Don Hofstrand :

Much attention has recently been focused on the milestone of the world’s population reaching seven billion people.  The milestone has raised concerns about the continued rapid increase in world population and the ability of world agriculture to feed the additional people.  The answer to this question has important implications for renewable energy derived from biomass.  The impact is not only the direct competition between corn for food and corn for ethanol, but also competition for farmland between food crops (e.g. wheat) and energy crops (e.g. switchgrass).  Even if the energy feedstock is the by-product of a crop (e.g. corn stover) it may still impact food supply.

In this article I will examine the trends in world population growth, the track record of world agriculture in providing increased food production over recent decades and the potential for world agriculture to meet world food needs in the first half of the 21st century.  Although of extreme importance to agriculture’s long-term ability to feed the world, I will not include the environmental issues and sustainability aspects....



Yield Gaps

Historically, yield increases have not been consistent across the planet.  Let’s use corn yields as an example.  As shown in Figure 7, the U.S. has led the world in corn yield increases.  This is followed by more modest increases in the European Union.  After being stagnant during the 1960s and 1970s, the Middle East and South America have experienced significant yield gains.  The former Soviet Union and Sub-Saharan Africa yields have lagged the rest of the world.

Much more @ Can the World Feed Nine Billion People by 2050? - Agricultural Marketing Resource Center:

Pundit's thoughts:

From Fig 7, the US does not seem to be falling behind the EU, as suggested earlier by Jack Heinemann.

See earlier post:




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