SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
World population 2015… © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
…and in 2050 © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
Global food production © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS DAVID TILMAN Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 96, pp. 5995–6000, May 1999
Can we keep this up? © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS © P Billiet
The challenges The food gap Land use and biodiversity Crop and pasture yield Climate change Fisheries. © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
Can agriculture respond? © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS © P Billiet
Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) The efficiency at converting feed mass into product Cattle: Between 5:1 (on concentrates) and 20:1 (on rangeland) Pigs: 3.0 to 3.2:1 Sheep: 4-6:1 Poultry: 2:1 Crickets: 1.7:1 Meal worms: 2.2:1 Fish: 1.2-3.0:1 Rabbits: 2.5-4.0:1 © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
But is this realistic? Catfish aquaculture Feed 5925kg Fish 2783 kg FCR = 2.1:1 But only the flesh is eaten Catfish fillets 384kg FCR = 16.6:1 © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
But is this realistic? Soybean production (US) for concentrates Energy cost Input (labour, fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, transport) 12 261 185 kJ ha-1 Output (grain harvest) 40 204 609 kJ ha-1 © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
Beef FCR FCR Concentrates 5:1 Rangeland 20:1 Fossil fuel consumption Rangeland 5 944 kJ ha-1 Concentrates 104 444 kJ ha-1 © 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS