Searching for practical solutions
Today, humans are farming more of the planet than ever, with higher
resource intensity and staggering environmental impacts, while diverting
an increasing fraction of crops to animals, biofuels and other nonfood
uses. Meanwhile, almost a billion people are chronically hungry.
This must not continue: the requirements of current and future generations
demand that we transform agriculture to meet the twin challenges
of food security and environmental sustainability.
Our analysis demonstrates that four core strategies can—in principle—
meet future food production needs and environmental challenges if
deployed simultaneously.Adding themtogether, they increase global food
availability by 100–180%, meeting projected demands while lowering
greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity losses, water use and water pollution.
However, all four strategies are needed to meet our global food
production and environmental goals; no single strategy is sufficient.
We have described general approaches to solving global agricultural
challenges, but much work remains to translate them into action.
Specific land use, agricultural and food system tactics must be developed
and deployed. Fortunately, many such tactics already exist, including
precision agriculture, drip irrigation, organic soil remedies, buffer strips
and wetland restoration, new crop varieties that reduce needs for water
and fertilizer, perennial grains and tree-cropping systems, and paying
farmers for environmental services. However, deploying these tactics
effectively around the world requires numerous economic and governance
challenges to be overcome. For example, reforming global trade
policies, including eliminating price-distorting subsidies and tariffs, will
be vital to achieving our strategies.
In developing improved land use and agricultural practices, we
recommend following these guidelines:
(1) Solutions should focus on critical biophysical and economic ‘leverage
points’ in agricultural systems, where major improvements in food
production or environmental performance may be achieved with the
least effort and cost.
(2) New practices must also increase the resilience of the food system.
High-efficiency, industrialized agriculture has many benefits, but it is
vulnerable to disasters71, including climatic disturbances, new diseases
and economic calamities.