Reducing The Environmental Damage Of Doubling Food Production

This article in Scientific American states that to feed the world's growing, affluent populations, food production must double by 2050. The downside is the ecological destruction that must inevitably follow using current agricultural methods.

To do this we must change the way we farm and the way we eat. A research team from the University of Minnesota has proposed five ways to do this: improve crop yields, consume less meat, reduce food waste, stop expanding into rainforests, and use fertilizer and water more efficiently.

35% of crop yield is consumed by animals we use for food. As the article states: "If the world's top 16 crops were grown only for human food, instead of the current mix that includes animal feed and biofuels, a billion tons more human food would be available—roughly equivalent to three quadrillion kilocalories."