There are already over 1 billion (about 15% of the human population) people hungry and living in poverty, and 75% of them as well as other less poor but vulnerable people live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihoods, with the majority relying on small scale crop-livestock systems. Food (primary and secondary), feed, fibre and fuel needs must be met from agriculture of a still expanding population that is expected to grow from the current 6.7 billion to some 9.2 billion by 2050 while available land for expansion of agriculture will become economically and environmentally unattractive. To meet the food needs of the population in 2050, production will have to expand by 70% compared to what it was in 2000. [more...]