Abstract
Over the past two centuries, the human population has grown sevenfold and the experts anticipate the addition of 2–3 billion more during the twenty-first century. In the present overview, I take a historical glance at how humans supported such extraordinary population growth first through the invention of agriculture and more recently through the rapid deployment of scientific and technological advances in agriculture. I then identify future challenges posed by continued population growth and climate warming on a finite planet. I end by discussing both how we can meet such challenges and what stands in the way.
Highlights
Today we have enough food to meet the world’s needs
Taken together with the closer scrutiny paid during product development to the potential for toxicity and allergenicity of novel proteins expressed by genetically modified (GM) methods, GM crops are arguably the safest new crops ever introduced into the human and animal food chains
While productivity gains based on earlier scientific advances can still increase food production in many countries, in Africa, such productivity gains appear to have peaked in most developed countries and recent productivity gains have been achieved largely through adoption of GM crops [68]
Summary
Today we have enough food to meet the world’s needs. we have an extraordinary global food system that brings food from all over the planet to consumers who can afford to buy it. Plants extract nutrients from the soil and crop yields decline, making it harder and harder to produce enough food as the number of people grows [8].
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