By Jeffrey Blumberg
During the next 50 years, the impacts of a worldwide population approaching 10 billion people and inexorable changes in global climate present a critical challenge to food security (i.e., ensuring that sufficient food is available) and nutrition security (i.e., ensuring that food quality meets human nutrient needs). New policies that identify and support solutions to feeding the world are essential; resources such as fertile land and fresh water are diminishing and changes in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide can reduce both crop yields and the nutrient quality of important plant foods. Because these problems are complex, solutions must be multi- pronged. These solutions must directly achieve greater production of nutritious foods with fewer resource inputs, improved food stability for storage and distribution, reduced food loss and waste, broader use of natural foodstuffs, and the development of novel foods using new technologies. Some of these solutions are apparent today and include: (i) using genetically engineered plants (commonly referred to as “genetically modified organisms” [GMOs]) to improve sustainability, yield, and nutrition, (ii) developing processing methods to safely enhance the preservation, storage, nutrient content, and transportation of food, (iii) creating approaches to reduce loss and waste throughout the food supply chain, and (iv) recognizing the value of uncommon and novel foods, e.g., from insects and bioprinting, respectively.

This paper was debated at the ISGP conference Food Safety, Security, and Defense: Focus on Food and the Environment, convened in partnership with Cornell University in October 2014.