Reaping Benefits of Crop Research

Abstract

In 2009, for the first time since the 1950s and the early stages of the Green Revolution, food security was taken seriously by policy-makers. There was substantial output from the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, and with studies by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a UK government Foresight group due this year, there is no sign that this renewed interest will fade. This revival follows assessments by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and others that population growth, urbanization, climate change, and the availability of natural resources present a challenge to global food security. Somehow the world must produce 50 to 100% more food than at present under environmental constraints that have not applied in the past.