But clearly, people are still going hungry today. It forces you to not get swept up in the macrotrend rhetoric and think at a bit more granular level "Ok so maybe the root of the problem here isn't pure production." Sure, that's a part of it. But food access, nutritional profiles, distribution, and waste are also huge contributing factors.
I've been spending a fair amount of time recently thinking about a lot of the narratives in agriculture that we could do without, and I didn't even think about the feeding the world concept. If agriculture wants skilled and talented people to join our workforce, I think it is imperative we drive it back down to simpler concepts and make our goals keeping it a business first.
Since you picked on my tweet to highlight, it perhaps also goes it deserves context.
The comment was from a farmer and it was about opportunity. His observations is that American producers think about the opportunity to make money serving new market needs, while other farmers (China) just try to get buy or argue (Europe) why new technology is bad. It is a complex nexus where the US can lead.
It is ludicrous on its face to think famers are going to "Solve the world's problems" but as you state there are opportunities to be more productive, address new markets needs, and increase profitability. American farmers are well positioned to take advantage of this. They have access to more resources, talent and technology than just about any one else in the world.
The demands on the food system is a challenge that will solve itself in time. Along the way, savvy entrepreneurs will do well solving the problems. Those challenges include population. The growth in population has much more to do with increased life span rather than trends in birth rate. The other challenge is reduced nutrition quality increasing health care costs. Those all create real macro pressures that appear in demand.
Not sure if there is much wrong with mixing some bit of purpose in with making money or simply surviving through the season. In the case of the quote of this one farmer, he is expressing one of many things that drives him, and the qualities of the people around him.
When people say "We have to produce 70% more food by 2050 to feed everyone", I like to respond with this:
Today, the world currently produces enough food to supply every living human with about a 3,000 kcal diet. (https://ourworldindata.org/food-supply)
But clearly, people are still going hungry today. It forces you to not get swept up in the macrotrend rhetoric and think at a bit more granular level "Ok so maybe the root of the problem here isn't pure production." Sure, that's a part of it. But food access, nutritional profiles, distribution, and waste are also huge contributing factors.
I've been spending a fair amount of time recently thinking about a lot of the narratives in agriculture that we could do without, and I didn't even think about the feeding the world concept. If agriculture wants skilled and talented people to join our workforce, I think it is imperative we drive it back down to simpler concepts and make our goals keeping it a business first.
Great post Janette, I share your disdain for the 'feed the world' mantra and you have done a great job on your argument. Thank you!
Great. We need a bit of pragmatism sometimes...
Since you picked on my tweet to highlight, it perhaps also goes it deserves context.
The comment was from a farmer and it was about opportunity. His observations is that American producers think about the opportunity to make money serving new market needs, while other farmers (China) just try to get buy or argue (Europe) why new technology is bad. It is a complex nexus where the US can lead.
It is ludicrous on its face to think famers are going to "Solve the world's problems" but as you state there are opportunities to be more productive, address new markets needs, and increase profitability. American farmers are well positioned to take advantage of this. They have access to more resources, talent and technology than just about any one else in the world.
The demands on the food system is a challenge that will solve itself in time. Along the way, savvy entrepreneurs will do well solving the problems. Those challenges include population. The growth in population has much more to do with increased life span rather than trends in birth rate. The other challenge is reduced nutrition quality increasing health care costs. Those all create real macro pressures that appear in demand.
Not sure if there is much wrong with mixing some bit of purpose in with making money or simply surviving through the season. In the case of the quote of this one farmer, he is expressing one of many things that drives him, and the qualities of the people around him.