The Effects Of Food On Food Production

Thesis: The topic of human population growth is an important issue due to its impacts upon people in developing countries, economics, religion, food production, and the environment; without any limitations, population growth can lead to negative consequences, such as famine and environmental destruction, or even positive outcomes, such as potential economic growth.

Over the next forty years, global population is expected to reach nine billion people. This increase in population, combined with expected economic growth, will cause an increase in food demanded and inevitably drain the resources we use for food production. So far, agriculture has been able to respond positively to the rising demand for crop and livestock products. However, farmers are already faced with many new challenges associated with feeding an expanding global population. Farmers must now meet strict new emissions requirements and produce more food on fewer acres while minimizing their environmental footprint. The demand for food is expected to grow substantially in the next couple decades. Some of the factors affecting an increase in food demands are population growth, rising incomes of individuals, food supply factors, and biofuels.

Some of that is deforestation, but the use of fossil-based fertilizers and the burning of biomass are the other two major drivers (Climate Institute). On the other side of the spectrum, as the Earth warms, changes that can be expected that relate to agriculture include a shift in agriculture zones away from the equator, a short-term boost in agricultural productivity through carbon dioxide pumping into the atmosphere, changes in rainfall, and changes in production patterns (Climate Institute). This will include some increased productivity, but it will also mean greater food insecurity, shifting land politics, and a scramble to adjust to new production patterns. Any improvements in productivity will be isolated and short-term. Shifts in where foods can be grown will reward the wealthy and punish – often fatally – the poor farmer who will have the seeds that have been married to the particular soil in which they are grown for centuries and millennia. Food crises will lead to food riots worldwide – which have already

The increasing human population and its impact on the world we live in has always been a prominent topic of discourse throughout history. A common theme that originates from human population is food scarcity. However, is an increasing population necessarily interrelated with food scarcity? Naturally, polarising perspectives on this subject will arise. Some are rather pessimistic and look at extreme population control measures, such as the neo-Malthusian angle that J. Kenneth Smail expresses in his aptly named essay: Remembering Malthus: A preliminary Argument for a Significant Reduction in Global Human Numbers (2002). Other angles on the subject are a bit more hopeful such as the views expressed

The article by Dennis Dimick brings up some very good points about the increasing population. He states that with our current population of 7 billion people, we currently do not have enough food to eat. With the population increasing day-by-day, we will face more shortage in the future. He also brings up the issue of natural resources. We are currently using so much natural resources that we will run out very soon. The use of natural resources tend to increase with increase in social standing (wealth).

Renowned environmentalist Lester R. Brown wrote about 10 Troubling Trends we’re seeing in in our environment and in our global ecosystem. His fourth point on his list, population growth, is one that has been an issue since the 1950s. As far as our population, urbanization, and industrialization goes, functionalists recognize that while it has been functional in creating a more effective, interdependent, and productive society, it has also been problematic. It has weakened social bonds and an absence of norms. We have began to lose our ability to function effectively. Even with our growth of large complex societies due to the population getting bigger and bigger. Brown’s ninth point on his list is the spreading of hunger. This is a direct

We grow or raise all of the food that we eat. Our garden next to the house provides fresh vegetables all summer. By the end of the winter, we are so hungry for vegetables, and that first meal of tender green peas is the most delicious! By then the meat we preserved in the fall is getting old and reeking, even though I season the meat, the seasoning can't cover the bad taste. There are times when there just isn't enough food for my family. When there is not enough rain, too much rain, or a late frost, the crops will not grow. These problems can lead to a food shortage and not having enough

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”- Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

This is destroying the land which is harder to grow crops making us buy supplies from other countries. When the country started to overpopulate, the country has a rise of unemployment and this is because the country cant support all of the people and give everyone jobs which lead to many becoming homeless without the governments help. Because of the rise in unemployment there is a rise to crime as people will steal various items to feed their family and provide them basic necessities for life. Also as the population rises the cost of living does as well. The cost of homes, insurance, food, and healthcare. We have to pay to survive and feed everyone in our families. Another contribution to the over population is the increase and more knowledge of sicknesses and how to cure/ prevent them.

Population experts predict that, by the year 2100, there will be 10 billion humans on the Earth. And yet, the world has not made valid plans regarding how to develop enough food to feed that number of people. Second only to clean water availability, feeding their people could end up being the biggest problem facing many countries around the world. The five countries with the highest projected populations are India, China, Nigeria, the United States, and Tanzania. Those countries alone are expected to have a combined populace of 4 billion hungry souls. That’s a lot of people to feed.

Food is, quite simply, essential. Without it, life can only exist for a short period of time. How we manage to produce enough food to survive will have an impact on the environment as the food systems we use can both contribute to environmental damage and yet be affected by it in turn (Jehlicka & Raghuram, 2013). Given that agriculture contributes a substantial amount of Greenhouse Gasses (over 50% combined) means that food systems are at the heart of climate change (Jehlicka & Raghuram, 2013). Food systems are the methods by which we produce (farming, agriculture, fishing etc), process (treat, process, package etc), store (ambient, chilled, frozen and housing), transport (locally, regionally, globally, air, sea, land etc) and dispose of items

The food industry is a very important factor everywhere around the world. Without food, humans cannot survive and that is why it is important that food production can continue. There are many factors that can affect the food industry in example, climate and topography. The world’s climate changes daily and

Per the WFP, “Natural disasters such as floods, tropical storms and extended periods of drought are on the increase -- with calamitous consequences for the hungry poor in developing countries. Drought is already one of the most common causes of food shortages in the world. In 2011, persistent lack of rain caused crop failures and heavy livestock losses in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. In 2012 there was an analogous situation in the Sahel region of West Africa. In many countries, climate change is exacerbating already tough conditions. The world's fertile farmland is under threat from erosion, salinization, and desertification. Meanwhile, deforestation by human hands accelerates the erosion of land which could be used for growing food,” (WFP, "What Causes Hunger?).

Hunger is another issue that will arise with a larger population. Crowd control can be achieved by simply building up instead of out, but that does not increase the amount of land that can be cultivated. Only about ten percent of each countries land is able to be used for farming, and they are using this land for cash crop such as cotton for money, or for cattle to graze upon. One out of six children who live in developing countries are underweight, about 100 million. If this many children are starving now while the population is at seven billion, how is this suppose to improve when it reaches nine billion? With an added two billion people entering the planet in the next thirty-four years, it is impossible to sustain them all.

Firstly, climate change has a big impact with world hunger. Climate change may affect food systems in several ways ranging from direct effects on crop production (e.g. changes in rainfall leading to drought or flooding, or warmer or cooler temperatures leading to changes in the length of growing season), to changes in markets, food prices and supply chain infrastructure (Gregory, Ingram & Brklacich, 2005, p.2139). It can trigger a natural disaster like drought and flood, which can have an extreme effect with the problems in the sources of food. In one hand, drought is a common scenario in farm lands in which