Looking Ahead in World Food and Agriculture: Perspectives to 2050
What’s the status of the debate on long terms prospects for world food and agriculture? How is growth going to affect agriculture and the food economy in the coming decades? Are the natural resources available, such as land and water, sufficient to feed a growing population? What role can economic incentives and technical change play in shaping resource use and supply? What are the priority areas where investment and research should be directed? How may the use of agricultural products in biofuel production affect markets? And how can climate change affect production possibilities and markets? Around these questions, in 2009, FAO’s Economic and Social Development Department organized a forum and a high-level expert meeting on How to Feed to the World in 2050. This volume follows up on that initiative, by gathering updated versions of technical materials prepared for the occasion, along with further work.

World agriculture: towards 2030/2050 - Interim Report
This is an updated version, with extension of projections to 2050, of two of the key chapters (Chapters 2 and 3) of the study World Agriculture: towards 2015/2030 - An FAO Perspective published in 2003.

This report is FAO's latest assessment of the long-term outlook for the world's food supplies, nutrition and agriculture. It presents the projections and the main messages.

  Download the full report

World agriculture: towards 2015/2030 - An FAO Perspective
in a co-publishing arrangement with Earthscan Publications

The projections cover supply and demand for the major agricultural commodities and sectors, including fisheries and forestry. This analysis forms the basis for a more detailed examination of other factors, such as nutrition and undernourishment, and the implications for international trade. The report also investigates the implications of future supply and demand for the natural resource base and discusses how technology can contribute to more sustainable development.

One of the report's main findings is that, if no corrective action is taken, the target set by the World Food Summit in 1996 (that of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015) is not going to be met. Nothing short of a massive effort at improving the overall development performance will free the developing world of its most pressing food insecurity problems.

The progress made towards this target depends on many factors, not least of which are political will and the mobilization of additional resources. Past experience underlines the crucial role of agriculture in the development process, particularly where the majority of the population still depends on this sector for employment and income.

  World Agriculture Towards 2015/2030
  World Agriculture Towards 2015/2030 Summary report

A hardcopy of these reports can be ordered at the FAO online publications catalogue.