Summary of Global food trade may not meet all future demands by Fariss Samarrai adapted by University of Virginia
According to UVA's adaptation of Fariss Samarrai article. Countries in the Middle East and Sahel region of Africa may struggle to give food to their citizens in the nest decade or so. Those poor, arid or semi-arid countries rely on other countries to get their food and as the years go by trade will only be more important. Based off the University of Virginia's research we will need to almost double the amount of carbs involved in the global food trade. The article says that without food supply from countries like the U.S. and brazil the Sahel and other less fortunate regions would not be able to feed their citizens. With this being said, the global food trade has not ended food shortages in desert like regions. Luckily, countries like The United States are fortunate enough to have plenty of food and plenty of advanced technology to keep producing and exporting food to the countries in need, but that does not protect first world food exporters from unpredictable changes in the climate, which could possibly force us to lower how much food we ship out. (UVA,2014)
Yes, it does sound a little bit scary that the world may be running low on food in some where around the next 20 years or so, but we Americans have nothing to worry about. It is very unfortunate that countries in the Middle East or Central Africa could have to worry about getting even small amounts of nutrition to their people, but that is a very big if. As the global need for food continues to grow, I believe the world's biggest, most powerful countries will rise to the occasion and continue to update their technology so it can withstand anything, including droughts and climate changes. The point this article is trying to get across is that their could be a food crisis in the upcoming years, but they are not guaranteeing the world will soon be hungry. This surely is a scary headline, but there is no reason to fret, at least for now.
University of Virginia. (2014, September 8). Global food trade may not meet all
future demand, study indicates. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 8, 2014
from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140908083215.htm
Interesting perspective. Our system of farming is certainly built on the assumption that we will find technological solutions for problems that arise, including the ones we make. I am not as optimistic as you seem to be on that count. Let's hope you're right in the end!
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