Question: When are we supposed to run out of food?

Emma Pilgrim answered on 15 Jun 2010:

Tricky one that. We know that globally the world population is getting bigger and consequently the demand for food is also increasing. We need to plan know how we are going to be able to manage to feed such a population especially since a lot of agricultural land worldwide has been developed for housing or may even be planted for bio-energy crops. Hopefully if we get it right and the scientists from a range of disciplines can co-operate worldwide we can achieve the aim of ensuring that there is a supply of nutritious food available for all. It is very important though that we don’t do this at the expense of the environment i.e. by polluting rivers, allowing soil erosion to occur as this will reduce our chances of providing food long term. We will also be polluting the environment we live in whihc could effect human health – not a good thing to do