Wed December 19, 2012 Peak Farmland? Some Researchers Say It's
Here Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 1:34 pm If
you're looking for a dash of optimism about the future — and who
isn't, these days? — you can find it in a rosy new prediction
about the planet's ability to produce food for the next half-
century. It comes to us from a trio of researchers at
Rockefeller University. Their bottom line: We have more than
enough land to grow all the food that the world's increasing
population will desire. In fact, farmers' ability to grow more
food on less land will even outrun demand for that food, and
farmers will abandon land once used to grow crops. As the
researchers put it, "we are confident that we stand on the peak
of cropland use, gazing at a wide expanse of land that will be
spared for Nature." Globally, they predict that farmers will
release an area bigger than Egypt, or the equivalent of ten
Iowas. Now, before you go and cross off "food supply" from your
list of things to worry about, I must tel