Julie makes a very good point. As part of a course I was teaching this semester we covered the topic 'How to feed the world in 2050'. In Australia at least this has become a topic of increasing interest as we face immense challenges to our current agricultural systems from Climate Change impacts. In Australia we have national research groups (CSIRO) and agricultural organisations (ACIAR) who are responsible for research and development. There are many people employed in this sector and it covers a variety of 'solutions', from sustainable farming techniques to biotechnology. I would assume most developed countries would have a large government-funded sector working in a similar way (as Julie's email would attest).
Internationally, agricultural ecology is headed up by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation www.fao.org) who take special interest in developing countries. There is some very good literature they have published on the food crisis of 2008-2009 and what it means for future food security. The fact is that we cannot even feed the world at the moment. Millions starve every year and yet we have an abundant food supply for the world's current population. There are a few reasons for this - poor farming techniques in politically insecure nations, poor infrastructure, crop failure due to drought/flood and other 'natural disasters, food wastage, biofuels, and most importantly, international trade agreements. Getting the food where it needs to be at an affordable price does not happen with current trade agreements. Also, supplying farmers with the revenue required for them to maintain a living farming is not occurring in many underdeveloped and developing countries because of trade issues. This is a key area of policy that needs to be investigated and remedied (if possible) if we want to be able to feed the world in 2050. No new technology is going to solve that issue. Liz On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 1:13 AM, Wendee Holtcamp < [email protected]> wrote: > Who would you say are the world's leading authorities in agricultural > ecology (how can we feed the world given our rates of consumption, > increased > meat demand, that kind of thing)? > > What questions are actively being addressed (besides the above) by > academics > that are hot topics in ag ecology right now for both the US and > internationally? > > >From the Bering Sea.. > Wendee > > My adventures in the Bering Sea ~ > http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Wildlife Ecology ~ @bohemianone > Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian > http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com <http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com/> > http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com > <http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com/> > ~~ 6-wk Online Writing Course Starts July 24 (signup by Jun 17) ~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > I'm Animal Planet's news blogger - http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news > -- Liz Pryde PhD Candidate (off-campus) School of Earth and Environmental Sciences James Cook University Tutor, University of Melbourne VIC Australia 0406626716
