Food is the F in FED. It’s all about food production, how and what is grown to supply the human population with 22 trillion kilocalories each and every day. Clearly a miraculous achievement, but can we keep it going?
Producing enough nutritious food
Global food production delivers to humanity over 23 trillion calories (kcal) each and every day. Not everyone gets enough nutrition from this production but the complexity and efficiency of the food systems are staggering. The challenge is how to keep these fragile systems going as demand grows and supply is increasingly constrained. This sFED theme explores the details of this mega challenge when unlimited growth is not an option.
Dip into the posts below to understand the many nuances of food production.
CharlieFood Topics
We eat and drink fossil fuels
Do you know what happens on farms to grow the vast quantities of food needed to feed everyone? No? Start with a massive use of energy.
Mark
Soil is not a factory worker
Soil is agriculture's equivalent of the factory worker replaced by machines; initially more efficient, works longer hours without tiring, and increases output. But is food an industrial process?
What happens when you try to train 100 Finnish farmers carbon management?
Farmers know what to do; they are smart folk. They adapt even when asked to think outside the box.
Some really scary shit about the food system
I want to alarm you. I know it is not the way to gain likes or shares, but it has to be done, so here it is… One-third of the people on earth today suffer from malnutrition.
Yield volatility can cripple a farm, just ask Joe
Farming is a tough gig. Uncertainty, volatility and so many factors that cannot be controlled makes you wonder why anyone would take it on. Thankfully many do, including our buddy Joe.
Some very scary shit on soil
Soil is a precious resource that is easily damaged and depleted by agricultural practices. Once damaged, soils are less productive and not easily renewed. This should scare the pants off you.
Not just about increasing yield
Global food production is not just about increasing yield to meet demand, even if that presents an opportunity for profit.
Audacious agriculture ideas for Australia
In an address to Congress on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy's set a national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth". We need such audacious ideas today.
The four pillars of food security
If you are reading this post, there is a good chance that you are one of the luckiest humans ever to have lived. At least you are well fed.
Just-in-time food supply chains
When I go to the supermarket, there is always food on the shelves. I can choose among thousands of products without a care other than the family budget. I am one lucky…
