The Energy Yield of Global Crops 1961-2016

Abstract

It is often suggested that world food production must increase by 70%-100% or more by the year 2050 if we are to feed the anticipated world population at that time. To evaluate this claim, global crop production from 1961 to 2016 was inventoried using publicly available data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To determine the adequacy of global crop output for humanity, annual global food crop production data (T y-1) were converted to energy yield in kilojoules (KJ y-1). These data were then compared to the annual metabolic energy requirement of the global human population. The resultant figures showed adequate annual agricultural production of kilojoules to sufficiently address global human metabolic demand. However, the diversion of crop energy to livestock through animal feed, and the use of crop energy for biofuels, as well as energy lost to waste creates consistent annual deficits that contribute to world hunger