For thousands of years, the world regarded the act of growing a plant in the soil as a biological process. But—as in all systems—the need for scalability to meet growing demands called for new, more efficient technologies to improve food production.

Simply intensifying current agricultural practices— whether by farming more land, using more irrigation or using more fertilizer—won’t be enough to sufficiently augment crop yields to meet future food needs.

Policymakers, growers, non-profits and industry today devote an enormous amount of time planning and innovating new ways to improve crop yields so that we will be able to meet future food needs for a growing world population.

At the same time, growers are faced with increasing demands to incorporate more sustainable practices. These demands come from wide-ranging interests––from consumers and advocacy groups, to regulators and large companies that are increasingly evaluating sustainability practices among their produce suppliers.

An Increasing Population Means an Increasing Need for Food and Resources

Today, World Food Day, is a good time to reflect on the roles each one of us plays in preventing hunger, whether by improving food systems to make them more sustainable (the theme of this year’s World Food Day), ensuring better, more equitable access to food, or simply reducing food waste at home.

Currently, food production is at a level that can meet the world’s needs, yet 842 million people around the world still go hungry. In the coming decades, when the world population is expected to rise dramatically it will take major commitment and innovation across industries and at multiple levels to make sure we all have enough to eat, and access to it.

Most experts estimate that the global population will exceed 9 billion people by the year 2050. That’s over 2 billion more people on the planet than there are today. Meeting the huge increase in global demand that comes with this population growth will put a tremendous strain on agricultural production. 

In fact, it is estimated that the agriculture industry will need to increase production by over 70% to meet this demand. This is no surprise when you consider all of the things agricultural products are used for: from food and clothing to fuels, plastics and many other everyday products.

Along with the world population, median income is also growing, especially in developing countries. Think about India, many African and South American countries and, especially, China. In all of these geographies, people are making more money, and so they are spending more on clothing, automobiles, and diets that increasingly include more meats, fruits, and vegetables, rather than traditional diets based on cereals and rice.

As population increases, more and more production acres are also getting planted. However, at least in developed countries like the United States and many Western European countries, growers will have to help meet food demand on 10-15% less arable land than is currently used for production today. At the same time, growers will have to face increased regulation at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as pressure from consumer and advocacy groups who want to influence how growers produce their crops.

Reducing a fertilizer’s leachable nitrates allows the fertilizer to act more efficiently. It also helps protect our water resources.

As a company, we care about doing things the right way — from producing quality fertilizer catalyst products that help growers improve sustainability in the field to improving our own practices at our Pilot Point, Texas, headquarters.

As our company grows, so does our demand for resources – especially water. This is a challenge for producers of all kinds, whether growers or product manufacturers, particularly as companies look for more ways to be “green” and incorporate sustainable practices. It is even more of a pressing challenge in places like Texas, where water conservation is important because of frequent periods of drought.