The Huffington Post article, via Truth About Trade & Technology, by Dr. Robert T. Fraley discusses how we already have the biotechnological solutions to feed the world, but we need common ground to tackle this global challenge.
(Originally posted on January 8, 2016)
The basic facts concerning the world’s growing population and the food supply are so daunting that they demand wider appreciation:
- We have 7.2 billion people living on our planet today. By 2050, that number will grow to 9.5 to 10 billion.
- Global wealth, especially across Asia and Africa, will increase dramatically over the next 35 years, and an estimated 2 to 3 billion new consumers will join the middle class.
- The combination of more people, increased incomes and improving diets will increase the demand for food by 2050 by 70 to 100 percent.
- Climate change and shrinking fresh water supplies will make it even more challenging to grow enough food to meet the demand.
In confluence, these facts are creating one of the biggest and most complex global challenges humanity has ever faced. This challenge clearly will require a whole host of solutions. There is no single magic bullet.
But we already know what many of those solutions are, and if we can align and work on them together – instead of wasting energy in fruitless disputes over issues such as organic versus conventional farming and genetic modification (GMO) versus non-GMO – we can make the 21st century a success for food production…