The rise in global temperatures caused by pollution is also beginning to disrupt food production in many countries. Last year Australia experienced its worst drought for over a century, and saw its wheat crop shrink by 60%. China's grain harvest has also fallen by 10% over the past seven years.
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"As demand for food increases, the amount of land we have available to grow food on is reducing," he adds. "An area twice the size of Scotland's entire agricultural area has been swallowed up by Chinese towns and cities in the last 10 years.'' '' Food demand will likely to increase as a result of increased biofuel production from food crops. Biofuel production is set to increase by nearly 90% over the next 10 years to reach 192 billion litres by 2018, the FAO said.
This is a wake-up call. The choices we make now will determine whether we can feed ourselves in the future. If we get it right we can have a thriving food economy.'' History records many such examples of agricultural communities flourishing and then failing, often because farming eroded the soil, exhausted the soil’s nutrients or caused a build-up of salt.
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