Buhler networking days. Can we feed 9 billion people sustainably by 2050?
Full details
| Authors & editors | |
| Publisher | Milling & Grain |
| Year of publication | 2016 September |
| Languages | |
| Medium | Digital |
| Edition | 1 |
| Topics | Economics & commerce > Feeding the World |
| Tags | |
| Scope & content | By Ian Roberts, Chief Technical Officer at Buhler Group in Uzwil, Switzerland Can we feed nine billion people sustainably in 2050 - that is the question? If I look at the audience we have here, it is hard to imagine a better group of people to discuss this with. Almost a quarter of the greenhouse gases emitted are associated with agriculture. Almost 70 percent of the world’s water usage is through agriculture. One-third of the world’s energy goes into food production. But, one-third of the food is lost or wasted: so one-third of one-third of the world’s energy is utilised to produce waste. And one-third of 70 percent of the world’s water is utilised to produce waste. We must solve a massive efficiency problem across the value chain if we are to become sustainable. Nine out of 10 of the world’s warmest years have been in this century. So we are not on a good track. And that comes back to this food waste problem. The FAO has identified ‘food waste,’ if it were a country, as the third biggest contributor to greenhouse gases after the industrial power houses of China and the USA. Read about: Hunger. Over 800 million people go to bed hungry and 159 million people are stunted. The alternatives. If we go back to the protein challenge, what are the alternatives to meat? Business responsibility. We have to drive equitable growth and it has to be in the hands of business to create employment and wealth. Food safety. Reduce risk, cleaning efficiency, reducing the cost of cleaning. Can we eliminate mycotoxins early in the value chain? Collaboration. We’ve transformed our innovation model to a collaborative model, working with customers and suppliers for innovation. |
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