Agriculture is an essential part of human existence. Tracing back over 12,000 years ago, people developed farming as a means to procure food that limited continuous movement of places. This allowed societies to remain in one place and expand as a result. The paradigm shift from nomadic to sedentary life meant that humans leveraged the environment around them to meet their needs. As such, societies were rapidly innovating, and developing new mechanisms to cope with their new way of life. Naturally, this led other communities becoming sedentary as well. And over a long time, more people switched from hunting and gathering to farming.
If we fast forward to today, we will notice that agriculture heavily sustains human life. As populations grew, crop and animal agriculture scaled to match growing demand. To put things into perspective, almost half of the Earth’s habitable land today goes toward agriculture. In reality, we produce enough food to feed everyone on Earth. The unfortunate truth is that there are 828 million people around the world who suffer from hunger. So, how come do we produce so much food, yet so many people are hungry?
There are underlying factors that hinder us from feeding everyone. To understand the situation, I will look at the most produced crops in the world, and their uses to set the precedent of this article. Then, I’ll examine food waste and its ramifications. Finally, I’ll discuss my opinion on the matter keeping in mind the question in the title. However, this article doesn’t aim to answer the question, but rather utilise the information available to provide context into the difficulty of solving this problem.
Building the Foundation
Sugarcane
When we think of commonly grown crops, we think of oats, corn, wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables. However, the most grown crop in the world is actually sugarcane. Why sugarcane? Besides producing the sweetener that we all know, sugarcane is very efficient at bioconversion and fixing solar energy. As such, we can turn sugarcane into fuel through a process called sugarcane ethanol production. This creates a “clean-burning” fuel that can replace gasoline. As the world’s largest producer of sugarcane, Brazil turns most of it into ethanol fuel, which helps run over 70% of Brazil’s cars. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions go down by 61% compared to traditional gasoline and petrol.
According to the FAO, over 70% of the sugarcane goes into sugar production. Nutritionally speaking, sugar and its derivatives offer very little in terms of vitamins and minerals. Moreover, processed sugar is usually linked with negative health effects like weight gain, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. As such, its advised to lower consumption of processed sugar because of its health mitigating properties. Finally, a small percentage of sugarcane goes to animal feed, such as molasses, in places where grains and soy are unavailable or expensive.
Sugarcane production takes up 2.4% of the world’s agricultural land. This doesn’t seem like much, until we realise that most of it goes into sugar production. However, in places like Brazil, where most of the sugarcane goes into ethanol production – the opposite is true. Nonetheless, growing sugarcane causes harm to the environment, like soil erosion, habitat loss and water depletion. And although there is a monetary incentive, growing sugarcane in places that are prone to environmental degradation might cause more harm than good in the long-run.
Maize
Deriving its name from Spanish, maize (corn) production exceeded 1.2 billion metric tonnes in 2021, marking it as the second most produced crop. Many people in Africa and Latin America find it a staple food item. Compared to sugarcane, maize takes up 12.5% of the world’s agricultural land and is the second most widely grown crop. Additionally, maize serves other purposes such as animal feed, ethanol production and industrial applications.
Maize is a feed ingredient that is a source of carbs. 56% of the world’s produced maize goes into feeding livestock, making it a popular choice as meat demand increases. Interestingly, there is an FAO study that states that this number is considerably less. It indicates that 13% of grains that are fed to animals are suitable for human consumption, whilst 86% of the feed is inedible. The study does highlight global reliance on grassland and pastures to feed livestock (77% of land use), which also includes forestlands. As such, an increasing demand of meat in developing countries will require innovative approaches to mitigate out-of-control feeding grounds, and better feed conversion ratios (FCR).
Nevertheless, maize consumption has a global footprint, and is increasing noticeably in many developing countries (mostly in the global south). Nutritionally, maize and its derivates such as sweet corn and popcorn, offer a fair bit of vitamins and minerals. As mentioned, maize is an excellent source of carbs, and contains some fibre, various vitamins and minerals. On the flip side, maize is a weaker source of protein since it lacks some amino acids. However, the best thing to do would be to combine it with another source of protein (say black beans) to make up for any losses.
Rice and Wheat
Rice and wheat are the third and fourth most produced crops in the world respectively. Over 3.5 billion people eat rice as part of their diet. In Asia, rice makes up 50% of one’s caloric intake. It’s a staple food item that is not only integral for food security, but also shapes many cultural dishes around the world. Nutritionally speaking, rice is an excellent source of carbs and starch, and is a source of various vitamins and minerals. Finally, researchers consider brown rice as a healthier alternative to white rice because of its anti-inflammatory characteristics and dietary fibre.
Wheat is one of the oldest crops that humans have domesticated, dating back to 10,000 years ago. Wheat is cultivated on 217 million ha of land globally, and as such is the most widely grown crop in the world. On average, wheat has a 65.6kg per capita food consumption globally per year. This means that wheat is available almost everywhere in the world. From a nutritional standpoint, like other grains, wheat is a source of carbohydrates as well as fibre from starch. Nevertheless, some people might be wheat sensitive, which limits them from eating it.
85% of milled rice goes into human consumption. Whilst that number is 66% for wheat. In the last 60 years, wheat as animal feed has gone up by over 10%. Nonetheless, this is country/region specific, as lower income countries eat more wheat than higher income countries. Rice on the other hand is used much less as a feed, because of its price compared to other grains. However, there is developing research regarding rice as a feed replacement for corn, specifically in pigs.
Food Waste
World hunger was steadily on the decline until 2019, when it started growing again due to conflict, climate change and the pandemic. Poor crop yields, displacement of peoples and a slowing in the food system all play a role in exacerbating hunger. However, even though food production is increasing globally, it’s still not enough to accommodate undernourished populations. Highlighting food waste, not just on an individual level, but rather on a global level, can provide insight on inefficiencies in the food system.
According to the FAO, an estimated 1.6 billion tonnes of “primary product equivalents” is wasted or lost annually, while 1.3 billion tonnes of that is edible. This is a lot of unprocessed food that doesn’t even get to become something else – say wheat grains to bread. In terms of numbers, most of the food wastage happens in the production phase, where 500 million tons of product is lost due to pests, ineffective harvesting and irrigation. Afterwards, we look at post-harvest handling and storage and consumption, which are 350 million tons each. This accounts for 75% of all food waste.
Moreover, food waste directly contributes towards environmental problems. It’s not a surprise that food production releases greenhouse gas emissions. As such, we have to account for the emissions of food items that are never going to be eaten. Additionally, wasted or lost food has to go somewhere. When we think of foods that we waste in the consumption phase, they will typically end up in landfills. Therein, food decomposes and releases carbon dioxide, which accounts for 6% of total global emissions. On a personal level, it’s probably best to compost and recycle the food that we won’t consume, in addition to making the most out of what we buy – a little might go a long way.
Discussion
The concept of food in today’s world has shifted dramatically. Sure, not all places are alike, and not all lifestyles are the same. However, the global population is on the rise and as more people get richer, demand for food will increase. So how do we accommodate a growing population when more than 10% of the world is hungry? Some argue that feeding the world more meat will help solve the issue. Others think that eating less meat will fix our problems. At the end of the day, the conversation is ongoing, and won’t stop.
I mentioned the 4 most grown crops to highlight how much the world relies upon them. The astonishing figure of having sugarcane as number one could come as a surprise to many. The fact of the matter is, we live in a very sweet world. One might say, “we can help solve global hunger by eating less sugar”. Really? Over 100 million people rely on sugarcane production globally – it’s their source of livelihood. And then when we consider how many people eat sugar on a daily basis, or use ethanol fuel, we realise that it’s easier said than done.
Look at corn, and how much of it goes into feeding animals. Many of the animals that people typically consume are fed a corn based diet, in addition to other grains. On top of this, these animals require a lot of land, water and resources that directly go into “producing” more of them. And when we factor in the food wastage / waste that occurs (in)voluntarily, we build a very large picture that completely sucks us in. As such, solving global hunger becomes an insurmountable challenge – or is it?
Final Thoughts
The crops that I spoke about in this article provide value to many people. Sugarcane makes things taste sweeter, and helps cars run smoothly. Corn, rice and wheat are staples for many, and they constitute a fundamental aspect for billions of people. Our dependency on these foods is not coincidental. For thousands of years, people around the world have relied on them. Their versatility and adaptability have nourished many. However, they also add a layer of fragility – what would we do without them?
On a personal level, there is a lot that we can do to make the most out of the food that we’re eating. We can learn to observe food not just as a nutritional vessel but rather, a small part that plays a role in many places. We can think of corn as tortillas, feed, corn syrup, and the yellow cereal grain we’re familiar with. There is more to our food than meets the eye, and what I’m saying is not a revelation, but it does provide another perspective. Maybe a more practical application of this would be to think of our food as carbon emitters, in hopes of reducing waste.
The ultimate goal, which is what I think makes this system seem less daunting, is to ensure that your personal food system, is the best it can be. Reducing food waste, understanding where our food comes from, and finally, consciously making an effort when making a purchase. At the end of the day, one individual can’t save the world, and it would be naive to think that. However, a collective voice can help champion a cause, especially when it’s affecting many people, but also the world. As for me, I’ll keep learning, writing about it, and improving wherever I can – there’s work to be done.