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By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will live on the planet. Can we produce enough food sustainably? The synthesis report of the World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that it is possible – but there is no silver bullet. This report offers a five-course menu of solutions to ensure we can feed everyone without increasing emis...
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... food gap is the increase above the amount of food (measured as crop calories) 1 produced in 2010, the base year for our analysis, to the amount that the world will require in 2050, based on projected demand ( Figure 1). Rising food demand over this period-leading to this 56 percent food gap-will be driven by population growth (from 7 billion to 9.8 billion people) 2 and by increasing demand for more resource-intensive foods, particularly animal-based foods, as incomes grow. ...
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... contrast, ruminant systems have greater potential to improve, as suggested by the wide range in pro- ductivities across countries. The GHG emissions that result from producing each kilogram of beef-a good proxy for all aspects of productivity-are far higher in some countries than in others ( Figure 10). Land- use requirements can be 100 times greater, 34 and the quantity of feed 20 times greater. ...
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... Extreme heat events will harm maize, wheat, coffee, and many other crops by interfering with reproduction. 51 Growing seasons in parts of sub-Saharan Africa could become too short or too irregular to support crops (Figure 11), contributing to major food security concerns. 52 ...
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... land is also shifting within regions and countries, particularly from less productive and more sloped lands to flatter, more productive, more densely vegetated lands. These shifts result in gross forest losses that are much larger than net losses ( Figure 12). Many abandoned agricultural lands do reforest but, unfortunately, the trade-off when native forests are replaced with planting or regrowing forests elsewhere is not environmentally neutral. ...
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... goal is to find lands with relatively low environ- mental (and other) opportunity costs but with good productive potential. These opportunities involve trade-offs ( Figure 13). Evaluation of land conver- sion requires assessing not only the loss of existing carbon but also the forgone carbon sequestration on lands that would otherwise regenerate, for example, on cut-over areas. ...
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... are wetlands that built up massive carbon-rich soils over hundreds or thousands of years. 65 Their conversion for agriculture and planta- tion forestry typically requires drainage, which causes the soils to decompose and sometimes burn, releasing large quantities of carbon into the atmo- sphere ( Figure 14). Modest efforts at restoration have occurred in Russia. ...
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... to FAO, 33 percent of marine stocks were overfished in 2015, with another 60 percent fished at maximum sustainable levels ( Figure 15). One World Bank study found that world fishing effort needs to decline by 5 percent per year over a 10-year period just to allow fish stocks to rebuild. ...
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... in world fish supply since the 1990s has come from aquaculture (fish farming). Aquacul- ture production would need to more than double between 2010 and 2050 to meet projected fish demand in our baseline (Figure 16). ...
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... emissions from agricultural production processes (i.e., excluding emissions from land-use change) reach 9 Gt in our 2050 baseline (Figure 17), leaving a 5 Gt GHG mitigation gap relative to our ...
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... the improvements are greatest when moving from the worst-quality feeds to even average-quality feeds, the greatest opportunities to reduce emissions exist in poorer countries. Improv- ing highly inefficient systems causes emissions per kilogram of meat or milk to fall very sharply at first as output per animal increases ( Figure 18). ...
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... rest runs off into ground or surface waters, causing pollution, or escapes into the air as gases, including the potent heat-trapping gas nitrous oxide. Countries, and individual farms, vary greatly in their rates of nitro- gen application per hectare and in the percentage of nitrogen that is absorbed by crops rather than lost to the environment (known as "nitrogen use efficiency," or NUE) ( Figure 19). ...
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... results of the three combination scenarios are presented in Table 4. The contribu- tions of specific menu items are shown in Figures 21-23 for the Breakthrough Technologies scenario only. For each menu item, its contribution in the combined scenarios is smaller than its "standalone" contribution due to interaction between menu items (e.g., land "savings" attributed to food waste reductions are smaller if those reductions happen simultaneously with additional crop yield growth). ...
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... This estimate is based on the GlobAgri-WRR model. Figure 18 for a more detailed breakdown of production emissions estimated by GlobAgri-WRR. It excludes down- stream emissions from the entire food system in processing, retailing, and cooking, which are overwhelmingly from energy use and must be addressed primarily by a broader transforma- tion of the energy sector. ...
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... See Figure 17 for assumptions about changes in baseline emis- sions from agricultural production, and "The Land Gap" (p. 8) for assumptions about baseline land-use change. ...
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... food gap is the increase above the amount of food (measured as crop calories) 1 produced in 2010, the base year for our analysis, to the amount that the world will require in 2050, based on projected demand ( Figure 1). Rising food demand over this period-leading to this 56 percent food gap-will be driven by population growth (from 7 billion to 9.8 billion people) 2 and by increasing demand for more resource-intensive foods, particularly animal-based foods, as incomes grow. ...
Context 16
... contrast, ruminant systems have greater potential to improve, as suggested by the wide range in pro- ductivities across countries. The GHG emissions that result from producing each kilogram of beef-a good proxy for all aspects of productivity-are far higher in some countries than in others ( Figure 10). Land- use requirements can be 100 times greater, 34 and the quantity of feed 20 times greater. ...
Context 17
... Extreme heat events will harm maize, wheat, coffee, and many other crops by interfering with reproduction. 51 Growing seasons in parts of sub-Saharan Africa could become too short or too irregular to support crops (Figure 11), contributing to major food security concerns. 52 ...
Context 18
... land is also shifting within regions and countries, particularly from less productive and more sloped lands to flatter, more productive, more densely vegetated lands. These shifts result in gross forest losses that are much larger than net losses ( Figure 12). Many abandoned agricultural lands do reforest but, unfortunately, the trade-off when native forests are replaced with planting or regrowing forests elsewhere is not environmentally neutral. ...
Context 19
... goal is to find lands with relatively low environ- mental (and other) opportunity costs but with good productive potential. These opportunities involve trade-offs ( Figure 13). Evaluation of land conver- sion requires assessing not only the loss of existing carbon but also the forgone carbon sequestration on lands that would otherwise regenerate, for example, on cut-over areas. ...
Context 20
... are wetlands that built up massive carbon-rich soils over hundreds or thousands of years. 65 Their conversion for agriculture and planta- tion forestry typically requires drainage, which causes the soils to decompose and sometimes burn, releasing large quantities of carbon into the atmo- sphere ( Figure 14). Modest efforts at restoration have occurred in Russia. ...
Context 21
... to FAO, 33 percent of marine stocks were overfished in 2015, with another 60 percent fished at maximum sustainable levels ( Figure 15). One World Bank study found that world fishing effort needs to decline by 5 percent per year over a 10-year period just to allow fish stocks to rebuild. ...
Context 22
... in world fish supply since the 1990s has come from aquaculture (fish farming). Aquacul- ture production would need to more than double between 2010 and 2050 to meet projected fish demand in our baseline (Figure 16). ...
Context 23
... emissions from agricultural production processes (i.e., excluding emissions from land-use change) reach 9 Gt in our 2050 baseline (Figure 17), leaving a 5 Gt GHG mitigation gap relative to our ...
Context 24
... the improvements are greatest when moving from the worst-quality feeds to even average-quality feeds, the greatest opportunities to reduce emissions exist in poorer countries. Improv- ing highly inefficient systems causes emissions per kilogram of meat or milk to fall very sharply at first as output per animal increases ( Figure 18). ...
Context 25
... rest runs off into ground or surface waters, causing pollution, or escapes into the air as gases, including the potent heat-trapping gas nitrous oxide. Countries, and individual farms, vary greatly in their rates of nitro- gen application per hectare and in the percentage of nitrogen that is absorbed by crops rather than lost to the environment (known as "nitrogen use efficiency," or NUE) ( Figure 19). ...
Context 26
... results of the three combination scenarios are presented in Table 4. The contribu- tions of specific menu items are shown in Figures 21-23 for the Breakthrough Technologies scenario only. For each menu item, its contribution in the combined scenarios is smaller than its "standalone" contribution due to interaction between menu items (e.g., land "savings" attributed to food waste reductions are smaller if those reductions happen simultaneously with additional crop yield growth). ...
Context 27
... This estimate is based on the GlobAgri-WRR model. Figure 18 for a more detailed breakdown of production emissions estimated by GlobAgri-WRR. It excludes down- stream emissions from the entire food system in processing, retailing, and cooking, which are overwhelmingly from energy use and must be addressed primarily by a broader transforma- tion of the energy sector. ...
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... Alone livestock production is responsible for 14% (excluding land-use) of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions originate from manure management, ruminant waste on pastures, ruminant emissions, and fertiliser production [3]. In addition, results suggest that the agricultural industry is responsible for 92% of the global water consumption [3]. ...
... These emissions originate from manure management, ruminant waste on pastures, ruminant emissions, and fertiliser production [3]. In addition, results suggest that the agricultural industry is responsible for 92% of the global water consumption [3]. ...
Increasing population size and income growth are causing and increasing demand for food and protein of animal origin. Insects are an interesting alternative to conventional animal source proteins as they can convert by-products from the agricultural industry to biomass for commercial feed for livestock and potentially as a food source for human consumption. Microorganisms have been found to affect insects and can be accumulated via horizontal and vertical transmission. This study aimed to identify if the removal of egg- and substrate-associated microorganisms impact larval performance through the following parameters: development of biomass, final biomass, and the survival rate of house fly (Musca domestica) larvae. Four treatments were tested on substrate consisting of 10.81% alfalfa (Medicago sativa), 21.62% wheat bran (Triticum aestivum), and 67.57% water: (A) disinfected eggs and non-autoclaved substrate, (B) non-disinfected eggs and autoclaved substrate, (C) disinfected eggs and autoclaved substrate, and (D) a control without any removal of microbiota. The results showed a significant decrease in final biomass for the treatments with only disinfected eggs, only autoclaved substrate and both when comparing to the control, and a significant decrease in survival rate for B and D. Moreover, the development of biomass showed a significant difference between days within all treatments. Together this suggest that microorganisms of housefly eggs and the growth substrate plays an important role for growth, which is critical in commercial insect production. Further studies must be performed to examine these parameters in more commercially relevant substrates.
... Traditional high-input, resource-intensive farming systems confronts great challenges e.g. due to its substantial contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprints (Searchinger et al. 2018, Olesen et al. 2021. ...
Insect production for food and feed presents a promising supplement to ensure food safety and address the adverse impacts of agriculture on climate and environment in the future. However, optimisation is required for insect production to realise its full potential. This can be by targeted improvement of traits of interest through selective breeding, an approach which has so far been underexplored and underutilised in insect farming. Here we present a comprehensive review of the selective breeding framework in the context of insect production. We systematically evaluate adjustments of selective breeding techniques to the realm of insects and highlight the essential components integral to the breeding process. The discussion covers every step of a conventional breeding scheme, such as formulation of breeding objectives, phenotyping, estimation of genetic parameters and breeding values, selection of appropriate breeding strategies, and mitigation of issues associated with genetic diversity depletion and inbreeding. This review combines knowledge from diverse disciplines, bridging the gap between animal breeding, quantitative genetics, evolutionary biology, and entomology, offering an integrated view of the insect breeding research area and uniting knowledge which has previously remained scattered across diverse fields of expertise.
... The World Resources Report 'Creating a Sustainable Food Future' 4 identified 22 solutions to address this need, which were grouped into five categories: (1) reduction of growth in demand for food and other agricultural products; (2) increase in food production without expanding agricultural land; (3) protection and restoration of natural ecosystems; (4) increase in fish supply; and (5) reduction of greenhouse gasses emissions from agricultural production. To implement these solutions, supporting the sustainable development goals 4 and also addressing the food security challenge, require new technologies and product innovations, i.e., it is essential to find innovative ways to produce and distribute food more efficiently and sustainably. ...
Harnessing the potential of considerable food security efforts requires the ability to translate them into commercial applications. This is particularly true for alternative protein sources and startups being on the forefront of innovation represent the latest advancements in this field.