Monsanto recently released a campaign highlighting the importance of sustainable farming and food production. The campaign highlighted the fact that agricultural output will likely need to double by 2050 to meet the growing global demand. The campaign also discussed the growing importance of non-irrigated agriculture, (currently producing 60% of global food supplies), and how this type of farming will become more and more important in the future as water resources continue to be regulated. Currently, agriculture irrigation uses two-thirds of global freshwater withdrawals.

7 of the last 8 years, the global consumption of grain has outpaced total production. To meet future demand, some experts are predicting that we will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than what was produced during the previous 10,000, putting more and more pressure on future farmers and the land they use to produce our food.

To meet these accelerated demands and improve yields, seed and agricultural companies have been developing new innovative ways to grow crops as well as new biotech engineered seeds. A study completed in the Philippines in 2006 showed that yields from biotech corn were 37% higher per acre than conventional seeding.

Another recent study suggests that advances in biotech seeds and agricultural innovations added 100 million tons of global agricultural production between 1996 and 2006, translating into food for 310 million people per year.

Clearly, innovation in the industry is a good thing and required to meet future demand as the world’s population continues to grow. Food production and the land that produces the food, will not only be important to the citizens of the U.S., but will be driven by global demand, putting more pressure on current farmland to produce more and more of the world’s food supply.

-GDH