"Why Producing More Food Doesn’t Mean Less Hunger" Topic

"Global agricultural systems produce 4 million metric tonnes of food each year. If the food were equitably distributed, this would feed an extra one billion people.1Kummu, de Moel, Porkka, Siebert, Varis and Ward (2012). "Lost food, wasted resources: Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use". Science of The Total Environment. Accessed 05 June 2023. But while we already produce enough food for more people than currently live on Earth, it doesn't necessarily mean we will be able to feed a growing population.1Kummu, de Moel, Porkka, Siebert, Varis and Ward (2012). "Lost food, wasted resources: Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use". Science of The Total Environment. Accessed 05 June 2023.

That's because the idea that we don't need to produce more food by 2050 relies on a series of assumptions: that we stop almost all consumption of meat and milk, halve food loss and waste, and eliminate disparities in consumption.2Searchinger, Waite, Hanson, Ranganathan and Matthews (2019). "Creating a Sustainable Food Future". World Resources Institute. Accessed 06 June 2023. But the realistic likelihood of these assumptions becoming reality in just a few short decades is low…"

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Armand

The one thing we need to cut production of in more people. Yes we can feed them, but that is not the only cost.

We are cutting the production of people, sort of. Japan, Korea, Europe, and the United States are having babies at far less than the replacement rate. The US allows lots of immigration, so our population is increasing and our economy is not in jeopardy, but Japan and Korea have a crisis looming where retired people will far, far outnumber the working age folks.

The growing population comes from subsaharan Africa and India, maybe Pakistan I don't remember.

The solution is to move food, since apparently that doesn't work, but to move people from corrupt, unproductive places to the places that produce lots of food. That's what humanity appears to be doing, one way and another.

This is a major concern for China as well their discontinued one child policy has been too successful.

Right, I forgot about China. They have weird problems now and they're going to get weirder.