By 2050 there will be a world population of 9.2 billion. We will need 70% more food to be produced to cope with the massive expansion of urban living, the rise of the middle classes (predominantly in the BRIC nations), climate change and resource scarcity.
There is enough food to go round if it is evenly distributed. There have been significant attempts to reduce poverty and hunger, with initiatives such as the ‘The Green Revolution’, which greatly increased agriculture production in many regions of Asia.
This is not purely a technological problem, but technology has a key part to play. In recognition of this, there are currently a number of new agricultural technologies being researched and developed. This 21CC event asks: what are the challenges in feeding the 9 billion?