5 Factors of a Growing Food Crisis

1. Every year, more than one billion tons of food are lost worldwide. In industrialized nations, consumers are responsible for most of these losses: 13% of the food purchased in Europe ends up in the garbage, in the U.S., almost 16% is trashed.

2. Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common: The damage caused by 2016 weather-related events amounted to $44 billion in the U.S. alone; 3.5 million people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua were affected by food supply disruptions as a result of El Nino.

3. The 500 million-plus smallholders around the world are responsible for 50% of the world’s food supply; in developing countries they are responsible for as much as 80%. However, they are less productive than operations in industrialized countries.

4. Fertile soil is being lost all over the world, due to factors such as deforestation, overgrazing, and mismanagement. More than 200 million hectares of soil in Latin America are severely damaged, and many species of mammals, birds, fish and plants are at risk of extinction.

5. By 2050, the world’s population will have grown to nearly 10 billion: 90% of which will be in Asia and Africa, and 66% of the world will live in cities.

Source: The Future of Agriculture and Food, Handelsblatt Research Institute/Bayer