Improvement in Food Production

Food is one of the most basic biological needs of any organism — it is the organic, energy-rich, non-poisonous, edible material that, once swallowed, digested and assimilated, keeps the body alive, active and healthy. Green plants are unique among living things in being able to make their own food through photosynthesis; animals, humans included, cannot do this and so depend on plants, either directly (by eating them) or indirectly (by eating animals that eat plants), for every calorie they consume.

Over human history, two forces have repeatedly pushed food supply and food demand out of balance: famine, which periodically wipes out local food stocks, and the much steadier, longer-term pressure of a rapidly and dramatically growing world population. Meeting rising demand has therefore required a genuine, science-based improvement in food production — not just growing more of the same crop, but improving it in two distinct senses at once: quantity-wise (more tonnes of grain, milk, meat, fish, etc. per unit of land, animal or effort) and quality-wise (better nutritive value per unit of food). …