Meeting Future Food, Feed, Fiber, and Fuel Needs: A Case for Corn.

Future food, fiber, fuel, and water requirements of a growing global population will place increasing stresses on fragile ecosystems. While all ecosystems are impacted by human intervention and management, meeting future global demands for food and other resources will challenge societies to cooperatively manage and protect agro-ecosystems, while increasing agro-ecosystem output. This discussion will focus on the primary drivers that have and will continue to challenge world food security and the response by U.S. agriculture in meeting future demand to 2050. These drivers include 1) increasing world population, 2) increasing conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses, 3) increasing reliance on the U.S. for world food aid, 4) increasing use of food crops for non-food uses, and 5) continued degradation of world soil productivity. The specific case with corn is presented. Future food, fiber, fuel, and water requirements of a growing global population will place increasing stresses on fragile ecosystems. While all ecosystems are impacted by human intervention and management, meeting future global demands for food and other resources will challenge societies to cooperatively manage and protect agro-ecosystems, while increasing agro-ecosystem output. This discussion will focus on the primary drivers that have and will continue to challenge world food security and the response by U.S. agriculture in meeting future demand to 2050. These drivers include 1) increasing world population, 2) increasing conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses, 3) increasing reliance on the U.S. for world food aid, 4) increasing use of food crops for non-food uses, and 5) continued degradation of world soil productivity. The specific case with corn is presented.