How will we feed 3 billion new people within the next 40 years?

An article in the recent edition of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association Review provides a new platform for considering this question. Authors Aidan Connolly, vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech, and Kate Phillips-Connolly, Centre for Global Business Systems, Trinity College, Dublin, have organized seven key obstacles under the acronym GLIMPSE^™.  They provide a thorough examination of each obstacle and the associated opportunities.

GLIMPSE^™ stands for:

• G = Government
• L = Losses in the food and ingredient supply chain
• I = Infrastructure (trains, trucks, ports, cold storage, supermarkets etc.)
• M = Markets
• P = Politics & Policies
• S = Science & Innovation
• E = Environment

In addition to categorizing and defining our obstacles, the authors explore the roles of governments, non-governmental organizations and agribusiness in providing solutions. Agribusiness has long been blamed for shortcomings in the agriculture and food industries, but Connolly and Phillips-Connolly make a compelling argument that private sector market-driven innovation will be essential to meeting this challenge.

Read the article, “Can Agribusiness Feed 3 Billion New People…and Save the Planet? A GLIMPSE^™ into the Future.”

Which of these seven obstacles seem most challenging to you and what should we do to overcome them?