Earlier this year, Time magazine reported that climate change over the next 100 years will lead to a massive food crisis, thanks to a predicted decline of major crop yields. Though there is no definitive solution yet, agricultural experts have been offering their two cents on the situation since.

Recently, Jeff Simmons president of Elanco Animal Health weighed in on what the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (also known as the FAO) has concluded about the potential disaster.

"Today there are nearly 1 billion hungry people around the globe. yet in only 50 years, our growing global population will require an estimated 100 percent more food than we produce today. Unfortunately, we will certainly not have 100 percent more high-quality land available to grow twice the amount of grain or two times more livestock.The U.N. Food and Agriculture organization (FAo) reports that added farmland will help produce only 20 percent of the additional food our planet will need in 2050, and 10 percent will come from increased cropping intensity. Accordingly, the FAo concludes that 70 percent of the world’s additional food needs can be produced only with new and existing agricultural technologies."

And what does Jeff think will be the result of doing otherwise?

"The consequences of failing to use these science-based technologies and innovations will be disastrous."

"For this reason, and many others, we all share in the responsibility to ensure that new agricultural technologies — as well as those proven safe and effective over decades — continue to be available."

The fact that there are serious problems facing the global food supply is hardly news anymore, but it seems everyone has an opinion on the subject. As the problem grows, the number of proposed solutions is only going to expand as well. What do you think about Jeff's perspective? Will technology fix the problems or at least make them less severe, or is he way off the mark?

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