Don't let our food abundance fool you!

For the first time in decades, the United Nations reports world hunger is on the rise. This is in spite of all the global pledges promising “Zero Hunger” and billions of dollars invested in a “Second Green Revolution.” The world is running out of food and tragically children are in the cross-hairs.  Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of starvation on earth and 75% of these individuals are children. War and conflict are accelerating world hunger and childhood deaths. The world’s population is ballooning and outstripping our capability to feed it. By 2050 the world’s population is expected to be near 10 billion people. On our present course we are going to fall far short of having sufficient food to feed all these new arrivals on the planet. We are facing what Ambassador Quinn has called “The single greatest challenge in human history” Since our current food production policies have led to escalating world hunger and deteriorating agricultural environments the time has come for a new agricultural paradigm. Alarmingly, we are presently on a unsustainable path to meet the world’s increasing demand for food. During the 1950’s and 1960’s the “Green Revolution” allowed us to increase crop yields by 3-3.5% / year and avoid mass starvation in developing countries. Presently, even while utilizing all the tools of  the “Green Revolution” crop yields are declining. Why is this? There are multiple reasons: (1) we have had to abandon 1/3 of our tillable crop land since the 1950’s and 1960’s because of soil erosion, contamination, and lack of fertility; (2) because of the increased use of irrigation in agriculture ground water is being mined at a  greater rate than it is being replenished in many developing countries; (3) and, now climate change has come on the scene and portends to greatly restrict crop yields. While experiencing the food-laden isles of our grocery stores it is hard to imagine a disastrous world food shortage crisis on the horizon. Please don’t let this food abundance lull you into thinking “Not my problem.” Food shortages in developing countries profoundly affect you even if you are an isolationist. The national security of the United States is closely tied to food security in developing countries. Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia during the “Arab Spring” were thought to have been triggered by food shortages. So, providing the developing world “food security” is essential to our “national security”. Agribusiness sets much of our agricultural agenda and is promoting a “Second Green Revolution” to meet the world’s worsening food shortage crisis. With world hunger on the rise we need to question whether mounting a “Second Green Revolution” is a sustainable path toward feeding the hungry people of the world. Particularly since the first “Green Revolution” left in its wake nutrient and water deficient land that was pesticide contaminated. Agribusiness business makes its profits by selling seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides which are the main inputs for the “Second Green Revolution.” In India the impact of the “Second Green Revolution” on small holder farmers is being questioned. What is a more sustainable path toward meeting the world’s worsening food shortage crisis? Up until now we have invested 95% of our agricultural resources into food production and only 5% into food preservation. Consequently, the UN FAO has shown that 1/3rd of the food that we already produce is lost between the time that it is harvested and consumed. This is more than enough food to feed all the world’s hungry people. Then why aren’t we saving more of the food that we already produce? An imbalance in our agricultural investments in food production technologies and education over food preservation education and technologies is the primary reason. Agribusiness predominately sets the agriculture agenda and promotes food production technologies over food preservation technologies. Cynically, agribusinesses profit from the postharvest food loss since this creates more demand for the sale of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides that are used in food production. I am heartened by a growing awareness of the importance of postharvest food loss and waste in the industrialized world. Multiple programs have been initiated globally to reduce food waste in the developed world. Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that programs to reduce food waste in developed countries are having much of an impact on world hunger. Ninety-eight percent of the hungry people on the planet live in developing countries. Our food waste reduction programs in industrialized countries help feed only OUR hungry in the developed world. Such programs don’t address the heart of the world’s hunger crisis that exists overwhelmingly in developing countries. Food waste is not the problem in developing countries that it is in industrial countries. A friend from Ghana grew up with 6 brothers and sisters. He told me that his family didn’t need a refrigerator because at the end of the day all their food had been consumed –– no waste. In developing countries most of harvested food is lost along the food pipeline between where the food is harvested and consumed. These food losses result primarily because of poor storage facilities and poor cold chains to prevent food deterioration on its way from the farmer to the consumer. Fifty-percent of the harvested crop is often lost in developing countries from the time it is harvested and consumed. Our underinvestment in the postharvest preservation of food has resulted in tremendous postharvest “skill gaps” and “technology gaps” particularly in developing countries. The World Food Preservation Center LLC was founded to reduce the postharvest loss of food in developing countries by filling these gaps. The World Food Preservation Center LLC accomplishes its goals by promoting the education (M.S. and Ph.D.) of young student/scientists from developing countries in the latest technologies for the postharvest preservation of food and having them conduct research on much-needed innovative postharvest technologies for their countries. The World Food Preservation Center LLC has been joined by twenty-eight major agricultural research universities and three major agricultural institutes (including the Volcani Center in Israel that is equivalent to the USDA in the USA) on six continents. In conjunction with its “Sister” universities and institutes the World Food Preservation Center LLC is conducting continent-wide postharvest congresses to identify and mobilize existing resources to substantially reduce the postharvest loss of food and diminish world hunger in developing countries.  The World Food Preservation Center LLC has launched a “Food Preservation Revolution™.” Charles L. Wilson, Ph.D., Founderworldfoodpreservationcenter@frontier.comWorld Food Preservation Center®