Global Food

Stein W. Bie, ‘Global Food: Agricultural Research Paradigms Revisited’, Forum for Development Studies, No. 1–2, 1994, pp. 221–227. There is a paradigm shift in agricultural research caused by concern for the environment and a realization that poor farmers of the developing countries do not have access to the external inputs required for high-input—high-output Green Revolution agriculture. New research trends are towards increasing yields within the constraints of the natural environment. This paradigm shift comes at a time of much controversy over the global ability to feed a growing population, expected to stand at 8 billion people by Year 2020. Whilst pessimists have already declared ‘Full House’, optimists see few constraints in increasing food production to serve at least 15–17 billion people. One view is that the industrialized countries can supply most of the rest of the world with food given the advanced and increasingly sustainable high-intensity methods of their agro-industries. The challenge is to reverse the flow of industrial goods to create purchasing power in the South for the food from the North. The article reviews a series of studies published in 1993–94 on these issues. It notes the low and falling interest in the North, including Norway, for investing in agricultural research and development in the South, given that agricultural research has lead times of up to 25 years before a finding reaches farmers' fields. Concerns on overproduction and high subsidies in the North apparently overshadows an understanding of the pressing food security needs of the South

Agricultural economics · Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Food processing · Food security · Futures studies · Geography · Green Revolution · Market economy · Political science · Population · Purchasing power · Sociology · Subsidy · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development