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Farming Prioritizes Cows and Cars—Not People
Farmers and scientists are getting better at growing more crops on less land, but they’re not focusing on plants people eat.
It shows just how much food can be grown if farmers use every tool at their disposal: high-yielding seed varieties, harmonious combinations of pesticides and herbicides, precision-applied fertilizer, the right amount of water exactly when it’s needed, and so on. Gerber’s analysis can’t say why corn and soybean yield gaps are steadily increasing while other crops lag behind, but he suspects it has a lot to do with where money for subsidies and research is directed. With half of the world’s habitable land already used for food production, decisions about the kinds of crops we grow, and how intensely, have a huge knock-on effect on biodiversity, habitat loss, and forest cover.
Or read this on Wired
