overview
The past half century has seen rapid increases in global population and income. Food production has grown even more rapidly than population, however, due in part to changes in technology, input use, and market incentives. Yet these changes have been unevenly distributed, and have increased pressures on the earth's land, water, and genetic resources. As such, they resurrect old questions about our ability to meet economic and environmental objectives. Can the world satisfy increasing demands for agricultural products over the long term? Are sustainable resource use and food security achievable? This research program addresses these questions through analysis of resource quality and agricultural productivity.

Linking Land Quality, Agricultural Productivity, and Food Security—As rising populations and incomes increase pressure on land and other resources around the world, agricultural productivity plays an increasingly important role in improving food supplies and food security. This report explores the extent to which land quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity, how farmers respond to land degradation, and whether land degradation poses a threat to productivity growth and food security in developing regions and around the world. Results suggest that land degradation does not threaten food security at the global scale, but does pose problems in areas where soils are fragile, property rights are insecure, and farmers have limited access to information and markets. (6/03)

Plant Genetic Resources: New Rules for International Exchange—All crops descend from wild and improved genetic resources, or germplasm, collected around the world. Since no nation has within its borders the desired spectrum of genetic resources, international collection and exchange occurs. The United Nations International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which entered into force in 2003, is intended to govern the international exchange of designated crop genetic resources. It will also attempt to resolve longstanding issues over how the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources are shared.

Global Hunger at Its Roots—At the World Food Summit in 1996, leaders from 186 countries set an ambitious goal: to halve the number of hungry people (from about 800 million) by 2015. But progress to date has been slow, and the recent drought in eastern and southern Africa has cut food production and rural incomes sharply in these regions, underscoring the urgency of meeting the Summit's goal. Amber Waves (2/03).

Who Will Be Fed in the 21st Century? Challenges for Science and Policy—Although the number of food-insecure people in the developing world has declined in recent years, lack of access to enough nutritious food is a persistent problem with devastating human costs. Whereas malnutrition is falling in some areas, it is rapidly on the rise in others. Recent projections show that in the absence of any concerted action to avoid this outcome, many millions of people will still suffer from food insecurity in the first several decades of the 21st century. This book contains chapters on increasing the supply of food through better use of resources and technology, ensuring greater access to the food that is supplied, and changing the institutional structure of the food establishment to better meet the challenge. This book was copublished by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Economic Research Service and the American Agricultural Economics Association. (2001)

recommended readings
Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the U.S. Agricultural Sector—Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases can be reduced by withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and biomass. This report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt land uses and management practices that raise soil carbon levels. Amber Waves summary article (March 2004)

Sustainable Resource Use and Global Food Security, chapter 7.1 in Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators—The notion of food security has expanded in recent years from a relatively static focus on food availability to one that recognizes longer term concerns about access and resources.

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recent research developments
Meetings, conferences, and activities of ERS researchers in global resources and productivity.

related briefing rooms
Conservation and Environmental Policy
Global Climate Change
U.S. Agricultural Trade
World Trade Organization (WTO)

questions and answers
Important questions and answers on issues such as resource quality and agricultural productivity, sustainable resource use and food security, land, water, and genetic resources.

related links
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—Provides economic development and humanitarian assistance to advance U.S. economic and political interests overseas.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)—Mandated to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations.

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maps and images gallery
ERS maps related to global resources.

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for more information, contact: Keith Wiebe
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page updated: October 19 , 2004