Food and Agriculture

Question 1

Is there enough food available in the world to feed everyone?

Answer 1

Globally there is enough food for everyone. The problem is distribution; obesity is a problem in the US.

Question 2

What is undernourishment (or undernutrition)?

Answer 2

Not enough calories in the diet. 18-20 million people die per year and 6 million children.

Question 3

What is the difference between undernourishment and malnourishment?

Answer 3

*Undernourishment is not getting enough calories and malnourishment is lack of specific dietary components such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, water, etc.

Question 4

What are our dietary requirements?

Answer 4

Proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats, minerals

Question 5

What are vitamins?

Answer 5

Vitamins are organic molecules essential for life that the body cannot make.

Question 6

Where do we get our food? Globally, what are the food types we use most often?

How are these distributed (think: which nations consume the most meat & milk, for example) and/or used?

Answer 6

North America, Europe, and Japan make up…20% of global population, consumes 80% of global meat and milk, and 60% of meat and milk comes from underdeveloped countries.

**US produces 50% of worlds corn, of this 90% goes to livestock. Because 80% of the global meat goes to North America, Europe, and Japan the rest of the world eats ** fish and seafood=1/2 global meat consumption.

Question 7

How much has food production increased in the past half-century?

Answer 7

From 1950-1990, food production increased by 2.3x…more than doubled due to fertilization, irrigation, pesticides, etc.

Question 8

Is this likely to happen again in the future? If so, how soon?

Answer 8

**It will NEVER happen again. We can increase food production but mathematically we can NOT double it.