Global food demand good for us

The early signs of food shortages are now being seen with uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt generated partly by rising food prices.

But to feed the projected 9 billion people in the world over the next 30 years, will require an increase in food produced, and more efficent ways to do it.

Investing in a small percentage of NZ's surplus water, to irrigate some of NZ's dry land would seem a sensible long term plan that may give us the best return for agriculture and the NZ economy.

We are fortunate in NZ that we have a surplus of land and water to grow some of the extra food the world requires, but we need to invest long term in "soils, plants and animals " to achieve this.

Former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Morgan Williams says there needs to be some major shifts for farmers to take advantage of the world's growing demand for food reports The Manawtu Standard. Dr Williams said slow incremental changes, which had served farmers well in the past, "probably won't get us there". He said "We've seen a reduction of investment in soil, plant and animals, in part because government funding has declined in real and often absolute terms. Soil science isn't sexy."

But he said the world needed efficient food production to feed nine billion people."The challenge is to grow more food rapidly, on not much more land and using less fertiliser, water and pesticides than ever in human history. In the next 30 years, we'll see ever-rising consumption, a 50 per cent increase in grain which is used to feed poultry and pigs and many beef animals. There will be an 85 per cent increase in meat consumption and a 45 per cent increase in energy consumption. We'll also see a 30 per cent increase in the amount of water used."

"The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are generated partly by rising food prices. And food prices will get more unstable as the price of grain increases." He said that while New Zealanders generally spent only 7 per cent of their household income on food, in many less developed countries they spent 40 per cent. Dr Williams said NZ, as an efficient producer of agricultural products, was well placed to take advantage of the growing global middle-class population, but it had to think about what changes would make it even more efficient.