i read somewhere that we produce about twice as much food as we consume. the rest is either thrown away, processed into biogas (biodiesel) or used very inefficiently, such as feeding livestock with it.
HOWEVER, it is important to notice that it is very important that we produce excess food.
because food is a natural product, it is subject to natural changes in food production rate.
for example, a 1815 volcano eruption in Indonesia (!) caused the sky to darken sothat less sunlight could reach the ground, which meant that plants had difficulty thriving. It led to bad harvests in places as remote as India, North America and England. Wikipedia writes:
The crisis was severe in Germany, where food prices rose sharply, and demonstrations in front of grain markets and bakeries, followed by riots, arson, and looting, took place in many European cities. It was the worst famine of the 19th century.
and so is world population, so it balances out.
We produce so much food we can feed the entirety of China on just the surplus alone.
i read somewhere that we produce about twice as much food as we consume. the rest is either thrown away, processed into biogas (biodiesel) or used very inefficiently, such as feeding livestock with it.
HOWEVER, it is important to notice that it is very important that we produce excess food.
because food is a natural product, it is subject to natural changes in food production rate.
for example, a 1815 volcano eruption in Indonesia (!) caused the sky to darken sothat less sunlight could reach the ground, which meant that plants had difficulty thriving. It led to bad harvests in places as remote as India, North America and England. Wikipedia writes: