This book differs from other books on the world food situation in its consideration of the complete food cycle, from agriculture to post-harvest losses and processing to eating and discarding. Taking a scientific approach, Smil espouses neither the catastrophic view that widespread starvation is imminent nor the cornucopian view that welcomes large population increases as the source of endless human inventiveness. He shows how we can make more effective use of current resources and suggests that if we increase farming efficiency, reduce waste, and transform our diets, future needs may not be as great as we anticipate. Smil's message is that the prospects may not be as bright as we would like, but the outlook is hardly disheartening.
| Acknowledgments | vii | |
| Introduction | ix | |
| 1 | Reasons for Concern | 1 |
| Demographic Imperatives | 6 | |
| Dietary Transitions | 8 | |
| End of an Era? | 11 | |
| 2 | Appraising the Basics | 23 |
| Photosynthesis and Crop Productivity | 25 | |
| Land, Water, and Nutrients | 30 | |
| Agroecosystems and Biodiversity | 52 | |
| 3 | Environmental Change and Agroecosystems | 65 |
| Changing Soils | 67 | |
| Environmental Pollution | 80 | |
| What Could Climate Change Do | 90 | |
| 4 | Toward Higher Cropping Efficiencies | 105 |
| More Efficient Fertilization | 108 | |
| Better Use of Water | 125 | |
| Precision Farming | 135 | |
| 5 | Rationalizing Animal Food Production | 141 |
| Feeding Efficiencies and Resource Claims | 145 | |
| Opportunities in Milk and Meat Production | 163 | |
| Aquacultural Possibilities | 171 | |
| 6 | Consuming the Harvests | 181 |
| Harvests and Postharvest Losses | 182 | |
| How Much Food Do We Have? | 188 | |
| How Much Food Do We Eat? | 196 | |
| 7 | How Much Food Do We Need? | 211 |
| Human Energetics | 215 | |
| Protein Needs | 227 | |
| Comparisons and Implications | 235 | |
| 8 | Searching for Optimum Diets | 249 |
| Nutritional Transitions | 250 | |
| Nutrition, Health, and Disease | 264 | |
| Optimized Diets | 276 | |
| 9 | If China Could Do It... | 291 |
| China's Predicament | 292 | |
| Available Resources and Existing Inefficiencies | 299 | |
| Realistic Solutions | 309 | |
| References | 317 | |
| Index | 353 |
Overview
This book differs from other books on the world food situation in its consideration of the complete food cycle, from agriculture to ...