New and more sustainable varieties of the three major food crops of the world, corn, rice and wheat, are needed to supply world food needs while conserving natural resources and withstanding climate change, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. “That was one of the key messages to emerge,” said FAO in summarizing a meeting of crop production specialists in Rome. The UN agency estimates production of the three crops, which account for half of the world’s daily diet, must expand by 20 percent by mid-century.
FAO said the meeting “agreed that agriculture can no longer rely on input-intensive agriculture to increase crop production” and that speakers called for “eco-friendly agriculture.” Papers presented at the meeting gave examples such as no-till wheat in Morocco to reduce runoff, using nitrogen-rich leaves from the acacia tree in Zambia as a natural fertilizer and mulch to hold the soil during rainstorms, and sowing genetically diverse rice varieties in China to reduce fungus damage and need for chemical treatments.