International team crafts plan to feed world and protect planet

U of M-led researchers create a recipe for globally sustainable agriculture MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/12/2011) —Can we feed the more than 9 billion people anticipated to live on this planet in 2050 without destroying Earth's life support systems? In an article slated to appear as the cover story in the Oct. 20 print issue of Nature, a team of researchers from the U.S. Canada, Sweden and Germany conclude we can - if we successfully pursue sustainable food production on five key fronts: halting farmland expansion in the tropics, closing yield gaps on underperforming lands, using agricultural inputs more strategically, shifting diets and reducing food waste. An online version of the article will be available starting today at www.nature.com. "For the first time, we have shown it is possible to both feed a hungry world and protect a threatened planet," said lead author Jonathan Foley, head of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment. "It will take serious work. But we can do it." Scientists from the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, McGill University, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State University, Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, Stockholm Environment Institute and the University of Bonn have been working together for two years to find an answer to what could be the most compelling question facing humanity today. Combining new data gathered from satellite imagery and crop records around the world with new computer models of global agricultural systems and their environmental impacts, the team developed a plan for doubling the world's food production while reducing environmental impacts of agriculture.