Jeff Burbrink

By JEFF BURBRINK
Extension Educator, Purdue Extension Elkhart County

GOSHEN — I began to write this story at 8:35 a.m. Dec. 21, 2015.  At that time, there were 7,389,298,829 people on Earth.

The big challenge of our collective lives will be to feed 8 billion-plus people, projected to occur sometime in the year 2024. But within that challenge are several challenges. Growing that much food is just one of the big issues.

Transporting the food to where it is needed is another. Safely processing and storing food to feed 8 billion people are two more challenges. And  finding a way pay for the people who need  that food to pay for it is, perhaps, the biggest challenge of all.

It is a pleasant idea to think that everyone can grow their own food, but the fact is that some regions are blessed with the ability to grow far more food than the local people can consume and those regions will be growing food for export to regions that cannot grow enough food. The trick then is to help the people in those areas of the world to develop sustainable ways to generate income so they can afford to import and consume the food they need.

If you look at the successful economic development efforts in those regions, they often focus on development of clean sources of water, education, energy or transportation to provide a backbone for future progress.

Even here within our region, where we can produce plenty of food, we have challenges. There are people among us that do not have the purchasing power to feed themselves. And despite good intentions to encourage people to buy local foods, these folks will not be able to afford the luxury of locally grown produce that is a dollar or two more than the imported variety.

Global food production does have its advantages. Regions like ours where soils are rich and climate is suitable can produce carbohydrates and protein on a massive scale and export these riches to other regions, where food production options are limited. But, those regions can and do specialize in other goods and services for which we can trade.

Still other regions have a climate more suited for large-scale production of vegetables and fruits, and they can develop their economies around those crops. In fact, for some crops like pears and grapes, it is cheaper to grow and ship from another country, than to grow those crops here in the US. Our region, for instance, has a climate and resources well suited for dairying. For many years, we have known this locally.

But in the last 10 years, numerous dairies have come into the area, often with large amounts of investment from foreign lands, to take advantage of the blessings bestowed on our region.

Do not take this wrong. I am a big fan of locally grown produce. There is nothing that can match a fresh-grown tomato or melon or asparagus from a local producer. But in the economies of scale in the big picture of the world, that local niche is likely to remain a small one. And unless the production costs are lower that other regions of the world, our poor will not be able to afford the luxury of locally grown food.

I wrapped up this story at 9:27 a.m. Dec. 21, 2015. There are now 7,389,308,590 people living on our planet. That is 9,761 more mouths to feed.