Food Security The Challenge Of Feeding 9 Billion People Analysis

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In the article, “Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People,” published on January 28, 2010, Charles Godfray asserts that because of the continuing growing population and the growth of food consumption, the demand for food will increase for at least 40 years due to the lack of certain factors which could prevent the issues being faced with the demand for food. Godfray supports his implication by supplying the reader with a variety of causes as to why the demand for food has continued to rise such as the yield gap, production limits, the change of diets, yet at the same time provides solutions to these certain complications which could reduce the demand for so much food. Moreover, Godfray wishes to convey the readers into understanding the importance of reducing the impact of the food system on the environment and the certain precautions or actions that can be taken in order to better the situation by creating a “multifaceted and linked global strategy” to sustainable and equitable food security. …show more content…
The author’s audience likely consists of those looking towards helping in food security or interested in how to improve the demand for food by looking into the examples provided in the text.

EVALUATE HOW The article, “Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People” is written as an example of a Toulmin model with a claim, grounds, a warrant, and also a backing to prove the claim that stricter food security and advancement needs to be put in place in order to ensure sustainability and equitable food sources. In addition, Godfray establishes a variety of grounds to support his claim when he states, “The difference between realized productivity and the best that can be achieved using current genetic material and available technologies and management is termed the “yield gap.” The best yields that can be obtained locally depend on the capacity of farmers to access and use, among other things, seeds, water, nutrients, pest management, soils, biodiversity, and knowledge” (Godfray et al.). By providing grounds to explain how the demand for food can be decreased by just closing the yield gap, Godfray expresses how precautions can be put in place to avoid further problems. Furthermore, Godfray provides warrants throughout the text to support the claim and lead to a conclusion when he states, “Substantially more food, as well as the income to purchase food, could be produced with current crops and livestock if methods were found to close the yield gaps” (Godfray et al.). To explain, when Godfray explains how closing the yield gap can help reduce the demand for food, he provides the warrant by explaining the guaranteed results that would come from it. Lastly, Godfray provides a backing in order to support the claim when he states, “A yield gap may also exist because the high costs of inputs or the low returns from increased production make it economically suboptimal to raise production to the maximum technically attainable” (Godfray et al.). The backing provided lists relevant support in order to help the reader understand the circumstances and further reasons as to why the demand for food is so high and how it can be prevented. RESPONSE Godfray certainly changed my perspective in viewing how the demand for has increased and will continue to increase if certain actions aren’t put in place. Furthermore, I wasn’t aware that the demand for food could continue to

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