Critical Thinking

 According with Jonathan Foley, feeding nine billion of people will be a big challenge for the humanity. The increment of the population by 2050 mean that we will increase the demand of meat, and in consequence we will need to double the crop production.  She thinks that we will need to balance between the demand of food, and the serious problems that the raise of the agriculture cause to the planet. Among the most dangerous complications of the agriculture that she mentions are pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, and reduction of the biodiversity. That’s why she proposes five steps that cut the environmental impact of the agriculture worldwide.  

• “The first step is to stop creating new farmland and instead use existing agricultural areas. This will prevent the destruction of rain forest and grasslands.” 

• The second step is to employ modern Tecnologies that permit reuse the existent lands. This will increase the yields on farms that are not productive.  

• The third step is to limit the use of nonrenewable resource like water. The benefits will be the efficiency of farms. 

• The fourth step is to change diets rich on meat for plant-based diets. This will increase the crops destinates to feed people.  

• And the last step is upgrade storage and transportation that reduce food waste.  

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In my opinion the step hardest to achieve is the number five: Reducing waste.  Maybe in rich countries we can develop some measures that encourage the people to reduce food wastes, but to improve storage and transportation in poor countries is a great challenge; difficult to achieve. Because people in underdeveloped countries sometimes do not have the financial resources to invest in new transportation, not even to make repairs or tune up in their old trucks. Also, the storage system may be affected for cuts in power supplies, and in consequence of that many crops are spoiled by the heat. 

 In the other hand, I think that easiest step to achieve is number four: change diets. Because many people are now becoming more aware of eating healthy, so in consequence, they try to eat more vegetables, grains and fruits. These changes are due to the increase in obesity and diseases among the population. For example, many people are trying to eat less red meat, because scientific studies link the consumption of these kind of meat with many diseases.   

I can add that the problem of the meat can be resolved with the technology. At the present, scientists have created meat for human consumption in laboratories, this one is created through the culture of live animal stem cells. I think this can be an alternative that can help us to afront the increase of the population, the impact of the cattle in our environment, and in the same time avoid the animal cruelty. 

Maybe I am very optimistic, but I think that step one, two and three are possible to achieve too. Because we count with many technologies that can help us to maximize the crops and to limit the use of water.  Many countries are trying to implement some of them. For example, I can mention Israel as one of the countries that are developing new agricultural methods that will boost crops production. Among these I can name: Vertical rice field and the drip irrigation system.  

Other countries are trying to combat these problems too, for instance, in the African continent many countries have joined effort for the construction of the Great Green Wall, whose purpose is to end hunger and at same time to end with the desertification caused by agriculture in this zone. 

In conclusion, I believe that the problems of food and agriculture concern all human beings. It is our duty to find solutions that not only solve the problem of feeding 9 billion people, but also put an end to the damage we are causing to our planet.

Adda Barrios 

ESL 302 

03/21/2019