BSR Insight | How to Feed a Growing Population Without Destroying the Planet
Can we feed a planet of 9 million people by 2050? According to University of Minnesota's Jonathan Foley, who outlined a five-point solution at the recent SXSW Eco conference in Austin, Texas, it's going to take big changes.
Foley said his plan would stop deforestation, increase yield by focusing on the lowest-performing farming regions, improve resource efficiency (particularly around water use), close the “dietary gap” so more food goes to human consumption rather than animal feed and biofuels, and address food waste.
According to Foley, this plan would require an attitude shift:
“We need to reinvent agriculture from the ground up. We can't afford to have two schisms: organic and conventional, local and global. We need to find the best between the two.”
—Jonathan Foley, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota (October 4, 2011)
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