1.1.2 Conventional agriculture: solution or cause?
Richard Eckard, Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, explains the challenge of increasing food production to feed the world while transitioning turning conventional agriculture into sustainable agriculture. As stated above, the global population is predicted to reach around 9 billion by 2050. In parallel, to meet this future need, agriculture will have to increase production by between 60 and 80% by 2050. Meanwhile, due to a decline in investment in agricultural research and development, as well as a stabilization of agriculture expansion into new areas, we are currently witnessing a constant decline in agricultural productivity …show more content…
water) and energy, and while reducing soil breakdown and greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, we must take into consideration the huge impact intensive agriculture has on the environment and restrain it as much as possible. Aside from reducing food wastage, which could and should be an action to take, a new pattern called “sustainable intensification” has emerged in agriculture, aiming to combine the rise in production along with the restriction of environmental footprint coming from food …show more content…
Therefore, not only ecological degradation is inevitable but is also sign of progress
- Calories mostly come from grains
- Storable food, surplus, calories from carbohydrates (grain are more calorie-dense than forager food): sedentary, with growing population (more calories means more births)
- Agriculture’s surplus requires hierarchy: someone to distributes, someone to guard, someone to produce, etc.
- Slow feedback from degrading the environment. Degrading the environment brings more food, so they keep doing it
- Loss of biodiversity means more food: have to clear forests to grow crops
- Wilderness is a nuisance, a source of pest animals and insects, as well as land that’s just “going to waste.”
- Growing population needs more food, and crops can be grown everywhere: nurtured the agriculture expansion. Farmers are conquerors
- Farmers need 2-3 days to gather a week’s food, plus more to pay
Richard Eckard, Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, explains the challenge of increasing food production to feed the world while transitioning turning conventional agriculture into sustainable agriculture. As stated above, the global population is predicted to reach around 9 billion by 2050. In parallel, to meet this future need, agriculture will have to increase production by between 60 and 80% by 2050. Meanwhile, due to a decline in investment in agricultural research and development, as well as a stabilization of agriculture expansion into new areas, we are currently witnessing a constant decline in agricultural productivity …show more content…
water) and energy, and while reducing soil breakdown and greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, we must take into consideration the huge impact intensive agriculture has on the environment and restrain it as much as possible. Aside from reducing food wastage, which could and should be an action to take, a new pattern called “sustainable intensification” has emerged in agriculture, aiming to combine the rise in production along with the restriction of environmental footprint coming from food …show more content…
Therefore, not only ecological degradation is inevitable but is also sign of progress
- Calories mostly come from grains
- Storable food, surplus, calories from carbohydrates (grain are more calorie-dense than forager food): sedentary, with growing population (more calories means more births)
- Agriculture’s surplus requires hierarchy: someone to distributes, someone to guard, someone to produce, etc.
- Slow feedback from degrading the environment. Degrading the environment brings more food, so they keep doing it
- Loss of biodiversity means more food: have to clear forests to grow crops
- Wilderness is a nuisance, a source of pest animals and insects, as well as land that’s just “going to waste.”
- Growing population needs more food, and crops can be grown everywhere: nurtured the agriculture expansion. Farmers are conquerors
- Farmers need 2-3 days to gather a week’s food, plus more to pay