Patricia Boling

"On Feeding the 10 Billion" - STEW 214 CD"

Fowler Hall: 10 - 11:30 PM

It is commonplace to encounter people close to agriculture in Indiana worrying about how we will produce enough food to feed the projected 10 billion people who will inhabit the earth by 2050. But the assumption that Indiana needs to become even more productive and figure out how to turn out even more of what it does best, corn and soy beans, begs the question, what kind of food are we producing, and how will producing more of it benefit a rapidly increasing world population? We Hoosiers are incredibly productive, but our agricultural output is used primarily to create animal fodder, ingredients that go into soda and junk food, and ethanol. How such products will help feed the 10 billion projected inhabitants of the world is a question that needs to be discussed, not assumed: does it make sense to be producing more steers, chicken and pork to feed a much larger population, or should we be encouraging greater consumption of legumes and other non-animal sources of protein? More people means bigger markets for chips and soda, but their nutrition and health would benefit more from eating more traditional foodstuffs farmed in their own countries. If the world’s population needs more food, what role should Indiana take in producing it?