Re:A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
by pedalpete on Sunday January 19, 2020 @06:21PM
(#22094855)
Why do we need 50% more food production when
1) Tons of food is wasted every year http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/world_food_consumptio... (40% of food in the US is wasted) https://www.nrdc.org/issues/food-waste
2) Population is expected to peak at 8.5B https://www.cnbc.com/id/101018722 (only a 10% increase above current levels)
3) Obesity is a major issue in many developed and developing countries, so we can clearly cut down on the amount of food people are eating.
I realise that has icky connotations, and is anathema to some people, but we will need at least 50% more food over the coming decades, and we are already over-using the land (and especially the sea) by a lot.
Organics, permacultures, symbiotic planting, etc, are all good things, but not nearly enough to meet our future needs.
So we need to concentrate large parts of agriculture into a much smaller footprint.
Hydroponics, aquaponics, indoor fish farms (we really need to stop fishing wild fish at sea, except in the most artisanal line-caught manner), synthetic milk, juices, flours, even grains if possiible, protein from insects, engineered yeasts, etc, etc.
Ideally, we could actually make food much more nutritious, and delicious, by manufacturing most of it.
Good people can help keep it on that ideal course, not a more dystopian one of sickly 'protein pills'.