ABSTRACT
Agriculture is the foundation of modern society. The ability of a small portion of society to produce food for the whole allows humanity the leniency to study the arts and sciences, which have led to our current era. It has also supported humanity’s growth far beyond populations naturally attainable; by mid-2013, the world population reached approximately 7.2 billion people. Even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, the world population is still expected to reach 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion in 2100, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) medium-variant projection (United Nations 2013). In addition to worldwide population growth, per capita food consumption will also increase. The daily caloric intake of the population overall will rise, though countries currently with high caloric intake will level off or slightly decrease consumption. In 2007, worldwide food consumption per person was about 2770 kcal per person per day; by 2050, this will increase to a worldwide average of just above 3000 kcal per person per day (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012).
