Emily Cassidy at the University of Minnesota says that four billion more people could eat if existing croplands were used in better ways. ‘We already produce enough calories to feed a few billion more people. As our planet gets more crowded or we experience disasters like droughts and pests, we can find ways of using existing croplands more efficiently.’
This is about existing croplands. It’s not a call to irrigate pastoral drylands. The land talks to us, if we listen.
I like it that Ms Cassidy’s team isn’t telling us all to become vegans. Huge gains could be made if humans ate less meat. But as I’ve written before, that doesn’t mean we all have to stop eating meat. Unless we want to, of course. I like Ms Cassidy’s remarks about people’s choice. I also like what Mark Tercek at the Nature Conservancy said about greening our meat.
I’m grateful to my fellow blogger Willem van Cotthem at Desertification for drawing attention to this story.
Science on the Land 