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The UN predicts that the price of food will decrease over the next decade according to a new report.
With the world’s population increase is expected to push up demand by 15% over the next ten years and more people escaping poverty there will be an increased demand on our global food system. However the report states that agricultural production will increase at an even faster rate.
This is good news for the world’s poor, but bad news for farmers. The agricultural sector already suffers from a poor profits on what is a difficult job that requires specialist knowledge that is often acquired over generations.
"Yield improvements and higher production intensity, driven by technological innovation, will result in higher output even as global agricultural land use remains broadly constant," the economic organizations said in a statement.
The report runs contrary to the media message that our food system is running into difficulty due to exponential population growth.
One thing is certain however, with agriculture facing a tech revolution, millions of workers will be phased out of the farm to fork supply chain, potential concentrating control, wealth and power in the hands of a few corporations. The agricultural system, just like the wild needs biodiversity and an ‘organic’ growth structure to ensure a human attachment to the land is maintained.
It is true that there will be more mouths to feed, but there must be an incentive for people to choose agriculture as a career path and that means customers will have to consume more consciously where possible.
Already a third of the food we eat is wasted between farm and fork and while chefs are working to increase awareness and develop more responsible and sustainable supply chains, cheaper, more plentiful produce may threaten their good work in the coming decades.
This is a rare note of optimism amongst all the doom and gloom, however climate change, disease and trade disruptions as well as a predicted economic crash are all real dangers and could yet be more influential on the course of future agriculture than the continues innovation in the agritech sector.
