Status Updates From One Billion Hungry: Can We ...

About 15-35% of total global water withdrawals for irrigated agriculture are unsustainable. Need to use better irrigation designs, manage and maintain the systems, use small-scale water systems and tube wells instead, maybe switch to crops that need less water.

Strategies Conway recommends as helping sustainable, environmentally friendly agricultural growth: intercropping, rotating crops, agroforestry, silvopasture, green manuring, minimum tillage before sowing, use of natural enemies/parasites/predators to control pests

To feed increased population by 2050, annual production must rise by 1% a year. Barriers: changing diets, increased livestock consumption, high fertilizer prices, run out of good quality land&water, climate change, plus donors pursue idiosyncratic development objectives instead of working together (thru UN & GAFSP)

Goulding et al 2011: Organic cultivation yields 30-40% less wheat than conventional, probably approximately the same for other crops. BUT, this could underestimate organic yields in developing countries where soils have degraded over time, in drought areas, or under subsistence conditions.