Only 8 per cent of the Earth's soils are suitable for agriculture, meaning they are not too cold, too dry, too steep, or of too poor a quality for agriculture. Through over-farming and the use of too much fertilizer, we have degraded much of the soil we do have, and through deforestation and land clearing we have caused still more to simply blow away.
 
 
   

Soil is composed of rock and mineral particles; decaying plants and animals; living plants and animals; and water and air. Plant roots work their way between the soil particles, binding and aerating the soil.
Soil forms slowly, taking from 50 to more than 1,000 years to build up a thin layer. The process of destruction as a result of misuse or erosion is much quicker. Once completely destroyed, soil is for all practical purposes lost for ever.


Fish catches from the oceans are levelling off as stocks are increasingly overexploited - according to FAO, more
than 70 per cent of the world's fisheries are depleted or nearly depleted. Aquaculture seems a way forward, but there are associated environmental risks.		  

Source: FAO
 
How much are we growing?

We can estimate the amount of food we are producing in the world by how much grain we are growing, as these grains make up more than half of the world's diet. Whilst the population is constantly rising, making it necessary to find ways to produce more food, the land that is able to produce grains is not likely to increase much, and may even fall, over the next 50 years. Low grain prices, land degradation and urban sprawl are all contributing factors. Meanwhile, population is expanding. So grainland per person, already halved between 1950 and the end of the last century, is likely to fall sharply again by 2050. And most of the three billion people expected to be added to the world population in the next 50 years will be born in areas where land resources are already scarce.

World grain harvested area and
grain harvested area per person
(1950-2002, with projection to 2050)
index 1950 = 100
Source: Larsen, Earth Policy Institute
Data source: USDA, UN

All illustrations/graphics: Deia Schlosberg/PCI

  
           
   

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Related Links:
 Earth Policy Institute FAO World Aquaculture Society PDF Version