Clark: food looming as the next challenge

(Wednesday 30 September 2009)

Megan Clark, CSIRO’s chief executive, has said that food production will be one of the great tests of the next 50 years.

As water and carbon emissions become more expensive, feeding the world’s burgeoning population will become more of a challenge, as research shows that in the next 50 years the world’s population will eat as much food as has been consumed in history.

"Humans have met this challenge once before - from 1960 to 2000 - the world food production doubled through a combination of new technology and investment. But this time, two things are different,” she said.

"We can no longer simply clear more forest and farm even more marginal land. Secondly, this is happening at a time when we are seeing the greatest migration of our species to urban centres."

(read the full story at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26146202-12377,00.html)

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