Feeding the World

In this chapter we will address questions like  

A report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1992 stated that 4.84 billion acres of soil—an area the size of China and India combined—had been degraded to the point at which it will be difficult or impossible to reclaim them. By 2002 UNEP was describing soil as a threatened natural resource and reporting that 17% of the land surface worldwide is strongly degraded. 

The main causes of soil degradation are erosion, overgrazing, and deforestation. Urbanization and industrialization also contribute to cropland loss. In addition, as populations grow, prolonged cultivation prevents cropland from maintaining its productivity. 

One of the main reasons that the world grain harvest tripled between 1950 and 1990 was a 2.5-fold increase in irrigated land. However, farmers of irrigated land are now facing the prospect of water scarcity as competition with urban areas for shrinking water supplies increases. 

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Crop yields can rise dramatically with the use of commercial fertilizers. For example, in 1800 an acre of land in the United States produced about 25 bushels of com. In the 1980s the same acre of land produced 110 bushels. Worldwide, approximately 4 billion acres of land are used to grow food crops. This would probably be enough land to feed the world s population if the entire acreage could be fertilized commercially. It has been estimated that world crop production would increase by about 50% if about 40 per acre were spent to apply modem chemical fertilizers. However, it would cost about 160 trillion to produce this additional food. Furthermore, the use of chemical fertilizers can lead to the contamination of streams, lakes, and bays with phosphates and nitrates. 

Obviously, pollinators are indispensable to most flowering plants. What is more easily overlooked is that they are critical to our own survival as well. Agriculture feeds the world, and about two-thirds of the world s crops require visits by animal pollinators to set fruit and seed. Various kinds of bees pollinate 60 percent of these crop plants, honey bees being the most important single species in this regard. In the United States alone, their contribution to crop pollination is worth billions of dollars every year. 

McNeely, J.A. and Scheer, S.J. 2001. Common Ground, Common Future. How EcoAgriculture can help feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity. lUCN/Future Harvest, Gland. 

Chemistry means the difference between poverty and starvation and the abundant life. The proper use of chemistry makes it possible for farmers to feed the world s ever-increasing population, for engineers to develop new means of transportation and communication that will bring the peoples of the world closer together, for doctors to cure the diseases of mankind, for manufacturers to produce the thousands of items that are necessary for better and richer living. 

This common, yet remarkable story of the McCauley family is one that we should understand and appreciate. It directly relates to why scientific progress and new agricultural technologies have enabled us to feed the world s increasing population. The future of farm productivity will likely depend on whether present and future technology (e.g., herbicides, biotechnology, etc.) will be available to our farmers without burdensome or unjustified restrictions. 

Green plant photosynthesis, which feeds the world, runs on photoinduced electron transfer (PET). 121 This principle was developed in chemical contexts by Albert Weller over three decades ago, 131 and became adapted for use in fluorescent switching contexts in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 14-211 A general design principle emerged soon afterwards. 221... 

Most of this type of research has now been taken over by the fast food industry. There is a great additional need for fundamental studies in these areas to develop processes based on sound principles rather than the empirical measures necessary during World War II, and to produce stable foods for feeding the world s millions rather than just the affluent purchasers of fast foods. 

This projection is all the more remarkable when you consider that the amount of available arable land has been and will remain essentially constant. Crop protection chemicals have made a significant contribution over the past four decades or so in feeding the world, reducing mortality and increasing the availability of fresh, healthy food. The key role played by crop protection chemicals will remain. They will continue to play a vital part in securing sustainable agriculture, as it continues to contribute to improved crop yields. This is the only solution to the declining number of farm hectares per capita and the even faster decline in the farm hectares per calorie consumed. 

The Haber-Bosch process is considered the most important chemical synthesis developed in the 20th century. Besides its scientific importance as the first large-scale application of the laws of chemical equilibrium, it has had tremendous economic and social impact without an inexpensive source of fixed nitrogen, the intensive crop production required to feed the world s growing population would have been impossible. In 1918, Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of his work. 

If this happens — and I predict it will if most DDT uses are cancelled — I have wasted my life s work. I have dedicated myself to finding better methods of feeding the world s starving populations. Without DDT and other important agricultural chemicals, our goals are simply unattainable. 

For us, as marketers of agricultural chemicals, a key question for the Seventies is this Just where will the additional food needed to feed the world population be produced Back in the 1930 s, the less-developed nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America—considered as a group— were net exporters of grain, but in the 1940 s the food surplus of these nations shifted to a deficit, and they have since been net importers, in steadily increasing amounts. 

Feeding the world s rapidly increasing population requires that farmers produce ever-larger and healthier crops. Every year they add hundreds of millions of tons of chemical fertilizers to the soil to increase crop quality and yield. In addition to carbon dioxide and water, plants need at least six elements for satisfactory growth. They are N, P, K, Ca, S, and Mg. The preparation and properties of several nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing fertilizers illustrate some of the principles introduced in this chapter. 

In Part Two, the editor addresses what are called the Seven Deadly Myths of Corporate Agriculture, being (Myth One) Industrial Agriculture Will Feed the World (Myth Two) Industrial Food is Safe, Healthy, and Nutritious (Myth Three) Industrial Feed Is Cheap (Myth Four) Industrial Agriculture is Efficient (Myth Five) Industrial Food Offers More Choices (Myth Six) Industrial Agriculture Benefits the Environment and Wildlife (Myth Seven) Biotechnology Will Solve the Problems of Industrial Agriculture. 

We are pleased to offer to students, researchers, industry practitioners, and all who are interested in the worlds most versatile crop, the most complete and authoritarian book on soybeans Soybeans Chemistry, Production, Processing and Utilization. This is one of several books comprising the AOCS Monograph Series on Oilseeds published by AOCS Press of the American Oil Chemists Society, which provides the latest and most comprehensive information on plant sources of fats, oils and protein meals of vital importance in feeding the world and providing the many biobased products we consume every day. 

Consequently, bees provide substantial benefits to the maintenance of the biodiversity and the productivity of both natural and agricultural ecosystems [13,14]. However, with regard to agricultural ecosystems, it is important to stress that only 15 percent of the 100 or so crops that feed the world are serviced by domestic honey bees, while at least 80 percent are pollinated by wild bees and other wildlife [12]. 

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