Long-Term Projections of Global Food Requirements: Why Were We Wrong?

Ira Sohn

Department of Economics and Finance, Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/nr.2013.42026                

Abstract

This article reports on and analyzes long-term projections of world food requirements compared with observed 2000 data reported by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. The importance of this “post-mortem” is to strengthen the case for carrying out long-term projections of essential resources—food, energy, and non-fuel minerals— because of the long-lead times needed to insure that adequate global output levels of these basic ingredients of living standards will be met. This study should prove useful to those preparing today’s long-term projections, with world population projected to rise to over 9bn by mid-century.

Keywords

Long-Term Economic Models; Global Food Projections; Assessment of Long-Term Agricultural Projections

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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