Agriculture to the rescue: Booming world population and mouth’s to feed

It’s not very often that agriculture comes to Bay Street Toronto, but on October 23 it

did. Jay Bradshaw, President of Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, was the featured

speaker hosted by the Economic Club of Canada, giving a talk on “Canadian Agriculture:

Feeding the World and Fuelling our Economy.” Bradshaw was able to break down the

stereotypes that are all too often associated with the agriculture industry. He conjured

up the image of the old-fashioned farmer in overalls and a straw hat and brought the

image of today’s farmer up to speed. Farmers are well educated and run their farms like

a business. He then addressed the global challenges that the agriculture industry is

facing, growing more food on less land.

With an awareness of environmental problems currently facing our planet, much of

Bradshaw’s presentation revolved around the world’s growing population. He noted

that “by 2050, there will be almost 3 billion people added to the world’s already bulging

population of 6.1 billion.” This proposes a serious problem for food security which he

referred to as having sufficient food and having access to it. But Bradshaw was

optimistic that with this challenge brings opportunity for the agriculture industry. He

noted, “according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),

global food output will have to increase by 70% by 2050…” Bradshaw has a clear

vision that technoloy will be able to meet the needs of the world’s food demand. This

technology will come from companies like Syngenta who will be able to come up with

genetically modified foods (GMO’s) to help withstand different types weather conditions

and products that will help keep the world nourished.

After hearing Bradshaw’s address, I felt inspired that the agriculture industry with the

use of technological advancements will be able to alleviate the problem of feeding the

world’s growing population. But at the same time, I was sceptical. I think that the world

view that technology will be able to address all environmental concerns is anthropocentric.

There will be a point that even technology will not be able to fix the population capacity

issues if the world population keeps escalating.

Jay Bradshaw President of Syngenta Crop Protection Canada