What Would It Take to Continue Feeding the World’s Population? From Family Farming to a New, More Plural, Diverse and Technological Model of Producing Foods

Abstract

The world population is continuously increasing. Increases in crop productivity are needed to fulfil food demands, although this approach is not the only solution to the problem. Yields below 2.4% of productivity increase per year would risk food security and lead to prices much higher than reasonable. Advances in potential yield and through yield gap closing are required. In addition, climate change threatens global food production and end-product quality. Setting aside extreme events, such as prolonged droughts or floods, the three main factors associated with climate change are increased temperatures, the rainfall reduction, and the increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration. All these three factors impact food production and its quality. Growers should adapt to this new scenario. The key to success in feeding the world’s population in a changing climate will be to achieve a global farmer community with proper skills, an informed population and well-oriented research.

Keywords

climate change / crop breeding / crop yield and quality / food production / world’s population

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