A significant new article in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (11 November) tackles the issues that will face agriculture in the future by identifying the top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture. 

The global population is estimated to reach 9 billion by the year 2050. In order to keep up with population growth and simultaneously prevent food prices from increasing considerably, the world will need to produce 70-100% more food in the next 50 years. The need to produce more food will be compounded by other challenges from climate change, water stresses, energy insecurity and dietary shifts. Global agriculture and food systems must change in order to overcome these myriad challenges and meet future food needs. 

Through a year-long process of discussion, 55 agriculture and food experts from 23 different countries representing sectors including universities, UN agencies, CG research institutes, NGOs, private companies, foundations, and regional research organizations were brought together to identify the top 100 questions for the future of global food and agriculture. 

An initial list of 618 key questions was whittled down by the team to the top 100. The resulting questions are wide-ranging and cover priority themes for agriculture worldwide. These key questions should provide an important stimulus for further discussion and research and addressing and answering them could have a very significant impact on global agricultural practices. 

Monty Jones, GFAR Chair and Mark Holderness, GFAR Executive Secretary, were among the 55 authors consulted for this important paper. 

Mark Holderness commented that: “These questions clearly demonstrate the scale of the challenges facing agriculture globally, from the diverse implications of climate change to the need to make agriculture a more rewarding and attractive industry, in particular for millions of resource-poor smallholder farmers. The questions highlight the interconnections inherent to agriculture and food systems and the challenges of simultaneously meeting the needs of poverty reduction, food and nutrition security and sustaining productive environments. The agricultural research for development community has set out to address these challenges through the practical steps laid out in the GCARD Roadmap, which calls for immediate and collective action among all those who care about the future of agriculture.”