• Question: What is the maximum population the world can hold if everyone has a decent amount of food and water?

    Asked by jakeberry to Aled, Willem on 21 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      Hi Jakeberry!

      Good question! This is hard to estimate, since farming and water management get better all the time!

      Many scientists think there are already too many people now: we are using up the water we have, and also the nutrients in the soil… Then we will *have* to do things better, or we will run out of food even if the population stops growing!

      I’ve often heard that we expect to have 10 billion people by around 2050, but that the number will go down after that. Some scientists think we will manage to feed everyone, by improving farming – but nobody really knows!

      I know, it’s a bit scary – but I’m an optimist! I have seen how creative people are, and I’ve seen demonstrations of “future farms” – it definitely looks like we’re going to be OK! 🙂

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      Hey Jakeberry

      I think the world could support more than 10 billion. I think by the time 2050 comes around we will have increased farming technology so that we get higher yields! We already supply an excess of food in the west so by 2050 I think export and import links will be much better and allow for better distribution of food! A lot of the planet is uninhabited so we have a lot of space… we just need the means to feed and water everyone!

      We might move away from traditional farming methods and start eating a “beefy” quorn substitute produced in massive factories!

      Hope that adds to wills answer 🙂 Don’t forget to vote 🙂

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