AgriCurrents
Friday, October 16, 2009 -

World will need 70 percent more food by 2050
Producing 70 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050, while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, using scarce natural resources more efficiently and adapting to climate change, are the main challenges world agriculture will face in the coming decades, according to a recent paper published by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization.

Global projections show that in addition to projected investments in agriculture, further significant investment will be needed to enhance access to food. Otherwise, some 370 million people could still be hungry in 2050, almost 5 percent of the developing countries’ population.

According to the latest U.N. projections, world population will rise from 6.8 billion today to 9.1 billion in 2050—a third more mouths to feed than there are today.

Nearly all of the population growth will occur in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is expected to grow the fastest (up 108 percent or 910 million more people), and East and Southeast Asia’s the slowest (up 11 percent, 228 million more people).

The demand for food is expected to continue to grow as a result of both population growth and rising incomes.

Demand for cereals is projected to reach 3 billion tonnes by 2050. Annual cereal production will have to grow by almost 1 billion metric tonnes from 2.1 billion metric tonnes today. Meat production must increase by 200 million metric tonnes to reach a total of 470 million metric tonnes in 2050, 72 percent of which will be consumed in developing countries, up from 58 percent today.

Staples: ‘Drought far from fixed’
The recent rains have been plenty welcome, says Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, but the damage from this year’s record-setting drought is far from fixed.

"Not surprisingly, many Texans and neighboring partners have rolled up their sleeves to tackle the task of getting much-needed hay to fellow ranchers and producers," Staples wrote in his blog at http://commissionertodd-staples.blogspot.com.

Among those, Staples noted efforts in Refugio County between a number of local groups to bring in hay at a discounted rate to local producers.

Similar initiatives have been launched in Gonzales, Lavaca, Goliad and Victoria counties.

"Like the recent rains, these partnerships are greatly appreciated and need to be sustained," he said.

The Commisssioner said the Texas Department of Agriculture continues to meet with farm and ranch groups to monitor the drought and speed recovery to drought-stricken areas of the Lone Star State.

Staples urged producers offering hay for sale or donation, as well as those offering discounted transportation services, to call TDA’s Hay Hotline at 1-877-429-1998 and help in the recovery effort.

Vilsack eyes dairy restructuring
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the struggling U.S. dairy industry must be restructured to avoid cycles of boom and bust.

"I think really what will be next in line is a longer term discussion about whether or not we need to make structural changes in the way the dairy industry is currently operated so we no longer have these rather stark contrasts between boom and bust," Vilsack said.

Vilsack said he wants to distribute as soon as possible the $350 million in support for dairy farmers approved by a congressional conference committee last week. In the FY 2010 appropriations bill for agriculture, USDA will distribute $290 million in direct support for dairy farmers. The other $60 million will cover purchases of surplus cheese and other dairy products to help raise prices.

Vilsack wants USDA to look at its price support and marketing programs to see if changes can be made to help stabilize prices.

"We need to figure out what changes, if any, we need to make to our support programs, to our marketing programs, to who’s included in those programs, to see if there is any way we can create greater stability," he said.

Farmers encouraged to develop guidelines for farm animal care
While Farm Bureau members understand that animal wellbeing must always be a priority in on-farm production, recent videos depicting unacceptable farm animal treatment demonstrate that all it takes is one bad episode to give the entire industry a bad reputation. 

A growing number of activist groups are intentionally hiring individuals to seek employment on farms and in processing plants solely for the purpose of capturing video that shows the mishandling of animals. 

Employers are urged to be vigilant whenever hiring workers—even day laborers—to ensure the best possible care is always given to animals on your farm.

Both Farm Bureau and the Animal Agriculture Alliance suggest the following:

• All employees must be properly vetted, checking applications, work history, backgrounds and references thoroughly.  

• All employees should be fully trained in basic animal care practices. Consider a thorough, comprehensive animal handling training session.

• Make sure employees are aware of the priority on proper animal care, and that ignoring or violating company policy on animal handling will be not be tolerated.     

Notable Quotables
"It seems like agriculture gets hit from a different angle every day. Environmental groups push extreme policies that would decrease productivity. Animal rights groups push an agenda that is based on emotion rather than science. And there seems to be, from the current administration, an idyllic vision of the countryside, without much of a realistic understanding of how modern-day agriculture feeds an ever-growing world population."

—Statement by U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), former agriculture secretary under the Bush administration, during his Oct. 6 keynote address at the farm policy forum of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
Texas Farm Bureau
http://www.txfb.org/