Can the world feed 8bn people sustainably? Food production is a major factor in the climate crisis and still millions of people go hungry. Here are some potential solutions. More than enough food is produced to feed all of the 8 billion people currently alive on the planet, yet after a decade of steady decline hunger is back on the rise,affecting 10% of the global population. According to the World Food Programme, ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have contributed to one of the worst food crises in decades, with acute food insecurity affecting 200 million more people globally than in 2019 due to rising costs of food, fuel and fertiliser. But there are bigger problems on the horizon. As the global population passes 8 billion and is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050, farmers, governments and scientists face the challenge of increasing food production without exacerbating environmental degradation and the climate crisis, which itself contributes to food insecurity in the global south. The United Nations projects that food production from plants and animals will need to increase 70% by 2050, compared with 2009, to meet increasing food demand. But food production is already responsible for nearly a third of carbon emissions as well as 90% of deforestation around the world.

“We use half of the world’s vegetative land for agriculture,” says Tim Searchinger, a researcher at Princeton University. “That’s enormously bad for the environment. We can’t solve the current problem by moving to more intensive agriculture because that requires more land. “We need to find a way to decrease our input [land] while increasing our food production.” But there is no magic bullet to achieve this goal. Instead, an overhaul at every step of the food production chain, from the moment the seeds are planted in the soil to the point where the food reaches our dinner tables, will be necessary. For most of human history, agriculture consisted of sustenance farming – people cultivated crops and livestock to feed their households rather than to sell them for profit. This began to shift after the Industrial Revolution and emergence of market capitalism, which also saw the rise of plantation farming made possible by colonisation of overseas land and slave labour. Industrial farming not only increased the scale on which crops were cultivated but changed the techniques used by farmers.                                                                                                                    What is required is a quantum shift towards regenerative agriculture and forestry.  “There’s a hybrid solution where we are bringing trees and other natural elements back to the landscape while also integrating production systems,” Davis says. “Systems that are integrated with trees and other plants often are more sustainable and more productive over the long term.”Cutting food miles by growing crops locally.....Transportation is a key, if often overlooked, part of the food production chain. Crops are transported from farms to processing plants before the food products arrive in shops. Packaging and transportation of food is responsible for 11% of all food industry greenhouse gas emissions.  Eating less meat.....shifting dietary habits is one of the most necessary solutions to the climate crisis, but it is also one of the most controversial and difficult to introduce. More than half of all carbon emissions from the food industry are due to production of meat and animal-based products. Beef production emits more than twice as much CO2 a kilo of food as other types of meat produce, and 20 to 200 times more than plant products such as cane sugar or citruses. Currently,77% of agricultural land worldwideis used for the production of animal-based products. This includes athird of all cropland, as grains and crops are grown to produce animal feed and biofuel rather than for human consumption.  Reducing food waste and loss...... An estimated third of all produced food is never eaten, according to the UN, with Food “loss” rather than “waste” describes the food that never reaches consumers. T14% of food lost between harvest and retail, and another 17% thrown out by shops, restaurants and consumers.his problem is more prevalent in low-income countries where farmers cannot afford secure storage facilities and refrigeration. “When there are no proper storage facilities the crops can be destroyed by the rain,” says Abhishek Chaudhary, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.....and there's more                  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/15/can-the-world-feed-8bn-people-sustainably