Several well recognized factors and global trends are pushing the planet closer to a state of precarious food distribution, which could lead to increases in malnutrition, hunger, and unpredictable agricultural commodity markets. These trends have been on the rise for years, and they don’t come as a surprise to those who study agricultural markets and food distribution issues, but some of them appear to be reaching critical tipping points. These include: 1) increasing population concentrations in urban areas 2) increasing populations in general, and 3) the impact of climate change, which we have yet to fully understand. Shifts in planetary temperature can wreak unpredictable havoc on growing patterns, pest and disease ecosystems, rainfall, and our ability to keep food fresh and safely transport it from one place to another.
On Monday, the United Nations agricultural agency chief outlined these issues while announcing the launch of the FAO’s (Food and Agriculture Organization) latest publication. This year, the publication will focus on the links between agricultural trade, food security, and climate change.
According to the Director General, in the coming years, the agriculture industry will face intense pressure to provide the world with safe and nutritious food in increasing quantities under increasingly difficult conditions. The industry will be required to feed the world while also preserving the world’s biodiversity and natural resources. This will be no small task, and the challenge will be greatest in lower latitude regions of the world closer to the equator.
Unpredictable fluctuations in rainfall will likely accompany rising temperatures, and arid and semi-arid regions will experience lower crop yields. At the same time, less affected areas at higher latitudes may experience a reduced impact, which can increase an already destabilizing development gap between wealthier and poorer regions of the world.
Even without the backdrop of climate change and shifting growing systems, the global food system will need to produce almost 50 percent more food by 2050 then it did in 2012. Using fewer resources to produce greater yields will be necessary to generate the basic stability we will require during the century ahead.
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