Population, nutrition and agriculture

Abstract

The human carrying capacity of the world or a country is considered as a function of food consumption per capita. A method of assessing carrying capacity is described, and it is shown that the world's population currently exceeds the global carrying capacity, that the population of the less-developed countries (LDCs) exceeds their carrying capacity, and that this situation cannot be expected to change more than marginally in the period up to 2050. It is also shown that a major increase in the global consumption of nitrogen fertilizer will be necessary if world crop production per capita is to be maintained at the current inadequate level.

Variation for nitrogen use efficiency traits in current and historical great plains hard winter wheat

“…The U.S. Census Bureau projects that world population will grow from the present 7.3 billion to 9.4 billion by 2040 (United States Census Bureau 2016), which will increase the demand for staple food crops. Gilland (2006) estimates that the present per capita global average cereal production can be maintained through 2050, but to do so will require a 50% increase in the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. Cereal crops with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) could increase grain yield at a given level of N fertilizer.…”

Impacts of population change on vulnerability and the capacity to adapt to climate change and variability: a typology based on lessons from “a hard country”

“…Although not all Addington Highlands residents experience climate risks as food-related ones, the food security literature reviewed above (e.g., Bohle et al 1994;McGregor 1994;Parry et al 1999;Rosegrant and Cline 2003;Gregory et al 2005;Gilland 2006) provides useful conceptual guidance in understanding the emergence of community vulnerability in the context of concurrent and interacting changes in broader scale biophysical and socio-economic processes. For example, while high levels of outmigration have become almost the norm across rural North America (and in many other parts of the world as well), the fact that the population numbers are not falling in locations such as Addington Highlands that have particular geographical and environment attributes, can be seen as a function of current North American cultural preferences.…”

“…Developing countries, which are generally believed to have high levels of vulnerability to the types of risks described in Table 1 (Adger et al 2003), often tend to have relatively high rates of population increase, and are thereby home to a greater proportion of the global population at risk. Examples of research where population change figures significantly in the degree of exposure to particular climate change impacts include: studies of increases in sea levels and consequent risks to coastal settlements of inundation or damage due to extreme storms and shoreline erosion (Mcgranahan et al 2007); regional food insecurity as agricultural production becomes increasingly affected by changes in precipitation patterns, heat stress on crops and animals, and increases in extreme storms and droughts (Bohle et al 1994;McGregor 1994;Parry et al 1999;Rosegrant and Cline 2003;Gregory et al 2005;Gilland 2006); changes in the geographic distribution of pathogens and contagions including water-borne and insect-borne diseases (Magadza 2000;Tanser et al 2003;McMichael et al 2006); and, increased scarcity of freshwater supplies in arid and semi-arid areas (Vorosmarty et al 2000;Schindler and Donahue 2006).…”

Rural Area Transformation: From Cropland to Mine Fields – Zemunik Donji Municipality (Croatia) Case Study

“…Additional impetus for enforced land use changes was the Croatian War of Independence (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995) which resulted both in landmine contamination and population changes. Population, as an important factor influencing environment changes has been in the focus of interest of many researchers (Pebley, 1998;Goldewijk & Ramankutty, 2004;Gilland, 2006;Harte, 2007;Potts, 2007;Rain et al, 2007), with changes in the number of inhabitants and demographic structures being some of the driving forces of human-induced landscape change (Bürgi et al, 2004). The Zemunik area, located in the hinterland of the coastal urban centre Zadar, was chosen as a case study since it represents a typical rural region that experienced major transformation from an intensively agricultural to depopulated region with a significant share of landmine fields.…”