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CLOSE THE YIELD GAP:

An international research team led by Jon Foley at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environmenthas devised a 5-step plan to double global food production by 2050 as well as reduce the widespread environmental harm posed by contemporary agricultural practices. All maps here were produced by Jamie Gerber at the institute. Step 1 is to raise the crop yield of the world's most ineffective farms to 95 percent of the best yields attained by farmers in similar climates. Closing this "yield gap" for the top 16 crops worldwide could produce 50 to 60 percent more food.

MORE MAIZE:

Improving seeds, irrigation, fertilizer use and markets would drive up yield for many crops. For example, the yield for maize (shown) could rise significantly across parts of Mexico, Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

MORE MAIZE:

Improving seeds, irrigation, fertilizer use and markets would drive up yield for many crops. For example, the yield for maize (shown) could rise significantly across parts of Mexico, Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

CLOSE THE DIET GAP:

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. Reducing waste is a corollary step: Roughly 30 percent of the food grown worldwide is lost to failed crops, stockpiles ruined by pests, food that is never delivered because of bad infrastructure or markets, and food that spoils or is thrown away after purchase.

STOP BURNING TROPICAL FORESTS:

The industry of agriculture is so massive that it now constitutes a grave environmental threat. Producing even more food would severely damage the planet. Agriculture has expanded its output in recent years primarily by clearing land. Today humankind cultivates 38 percent of Earth's ice-free surface; pastures and rangelands for livestock cover two thirds of that area, and croplands cover the rest. Because most of the remaining land is desert, mountainous, tundra or urban, expansion today occurs mostly by burning down tropical forests and savannas, which releases vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and severely reduces biodiversity.

USE FERTILIZER MORE EFFICIENTLY:

Environmental damage also results from massive overuse of fertilizer. Incredible volumes of excess nitrogen, alone, run off crop fields into rivers and oceans, creating enormous "dead zones" like the one that develops annually in the Gulf of Mexico, which have grown in past years to cover areas the size of Connecticut or New Jersey. Farms in the central U.S. are extremely wasteful, but so are those in much of Europe, India and China. Foley's group estimates that 10 percent of the world's croplands account for 32 percent of the global nitrogen surplus—hot spots that could use much less fertilizer and still achieve the same yield.

To feed the world's growing and more affluent population, global agriculture will have to double its food production by 2050. More farming, however, usually means more environmental harm as a result of clearing land, burning fossil fuels, consuming water for irrigation and spreading fertilizer. Agriculture already imposes a greater burden on Earth than almost any other human activity, so simply doubling current practices would ruin large areas of land as well as poisoning rivers and oceans.

An international research team led by Jon Foley at the University of Minnesota has concluded that five basic changes in the way agriculture operates—and in the ways we eat—could double food production, yet decrease overall environmental impacts. The steps are as follows: improve crop yields, consume less meat, reduce food waste, stop expanding into rainforests, and use fertilizer and water more efficiently. The changes are reflected in a series of maps. For a detailed explanations, see "Can We Feed the World and Sustain the Planet?".

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=foley-global-food-production-reduce-environmental-damage-maps