An independent, peer reviewed journal for policy makers and practitioners in agriculture and related industries, assessing the interactions between population growth, resources, the environment and climate change.
The UN projects that by 2050 World food production will need to increase by a minimum of 70% to feed a projected World population of more than 9 billion.
It is clear that extraordinary improvements in agricultural productivity will be necessary. World food production has been steadily increasing from ~2.94 billon metric tonnes (Bt) in 1961 (plants ~2.45 Bt and ~0.49 animals Bt) to ~8.27 Bt in 2007 (plants ~7.36 Bt and animals ~1.22 Bt)
(1). Most importantly, this massive increase in food …
This Issue of World Agriculture is dedicated to the memory of Norman Borlaug, who was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa in 1914 and who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He died in September 2009 during the preparation for this journal of a paper of which he is a co-author. Borlaug always displayed remarkable personal stamina in his plant breeding research, working 12-hour days in harsh field conditions, where he challenged younger researchers with the physical prowess he had developed on the …
