Sustainable Intensification to Help Increase Food Production

A policy called sustainable intensification could help meet the increasing food demands of a growing population, according to scientists from the University of Oxford. In an article in the journal Science, lead authors Dr. Tara Garnett and Prof. Charles Godfray said that sustainable intensification aims to increase food production from existing farmland, and will minimize pressure on the environment. The authors emphasized that there is a need to produce more food on existing rather than new farmland to reduce greenhouse emissions and limit biodiversity losses.

According to the article, sustainable intensification is the only policy that could create a sustainable way of producing enough food globally, but that it should only be a part of the policy portfolio. Professor Charles Godfray of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food said "Achieving a sustainable food system will require changes in agricultural production, changes in diet so people eat less meat and waste less food, and regulatory changes to improve the efficiency and resilience of the food system. Producing more food is important but it is only one of a number of policies that we must pursue together."

For more information, read the University of Oxford news release at: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2013/130705.html.