Each year forty million people die from hunger and hunger-related diseases. Our world is growing at an enormous rate, and by the year 2050 could reach 10 billion people. Food production has the ability to feed many more people, but great disparity exists because of unequal distribution. For many years it was easy for farmers to dump more fertilizers and irrigation water on their land to increase production. Now they are having trouble with new environmental laws, and insects developing resistance to pesticides. Also developing countries are turning their fertile land into cash crops, creating money for their economy, but sacrificing the soil as well. Many developed countries are sticking on huge subsidies to their farmers, which creates a huge surplus. These local farmers then go out into the world market, where they compete with local farmers in underdeveloped regions, driving prices down. This is the problem of world famine, and there are many consequences, implications and solutions to it.
The first most obvious answer is for farmers to cultivate more arable land. This is in short supply however, as urbanization fills space with houses, malls and parking lots. Much of the fertile land that has not been captured by urbanization has been heavily damaged due to overgrazing and wind and water erosion due to the clearing of forests. .
A new community of farmers is starting to sprout up across the globe. They are cooperatives, which shun the Green Revolution. They endorse and practice organic farming, using natural methods and techniques to grow crops and save the soil. The methods include planting legumes like clover and rye to replenish lost nitrogen in the soil. The legumes also provide animals with food to eat, so they do not overgraze the field. In addition, building up soil with manure and compost, natural fertilizer, recycles organic material. This prevents pollution from fertilizers seeping into groundwater and nearby rivers.
