Climate change is biggest challenge to feeding the world

“There is no greater challenge” than climate change to the chore of growing enough food to feed a world population forecast to reach 9 billion in 35 years, say Obama administration officials. “Feeding them will require at least a 60 percent increase in agricultural production,” say the officials – Secretary of State John Kerry, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and USAID chief Rajiv Shah – in a USDA blog that marks the launch of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture.

The alliance will pursue hardier crop, livestock and aquaculture varieties that can better tolerate heat, drought and flood, says the blog.

“We are also testing and deploying innovative tools for farmers, like weather-indexed crop and livestock insurance to help communities build resilience to severe weather.”

In a speech at the UN Climate Change Summit, the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization pointed to estimates of 805 million people in hunger worldwide. “We need to shift to more sustainable food systems – food systems that produce more, with less environmental damage – food systems that promote sustainable consumption, since nowadays we waste or lose one third to half of what we produce, ” said FAO’s José Graziano da Silva.

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