Challenges
Seven out of the last eight years, the world has consumed more grain than it produced, reducing inventories to historic lows and leading to significant food price inflation for the first time in decades. Energy prices have quadrupled over the past five years, with crude oil prices reaching their highest real prices in history¹. Concern over global warming has surged, with experts noting the eight warmest years on record have all occurred in the last decade.

Meeting the demands of the population explosion - According to the U.S . Census Bureau, global population will reach 8.9 billion by 2040 and 9.4 billion by 2050 before stabilizing around 9.7 billion later in the century². That is between 34 to 40% increase from the current population of about 6.6 billion. With incomes rising, people are eating more meat, grains, fruits, vegetables and dairy. Bundled together, the rise in incomes vis-à-vis the population is going to double the demand of food by 2050!
 

You can read about the further highly serious challenges right ahead of us at:

BBC News - Dawn of a Thirsty Century

FAO Report: What the New Figures on Hunger Mean

Population and human development - The Key Connections

1. The Price of Petroleum
2. http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/worldpopinfo.php