The global population is forecast to rise to 9.8bn by 2050 and a larger portion of those people will demand a richer diet. “Not a single country” has developed without increasing the proportion of animal protein in diets, says Alzbeta Klein, who heads the International Fertilizer Association. “You will need more grains, oilseeds, soy and corn to feed those animals.”
At the same time, soil health is deteriorating as a result of over-farming and climate change. A third of the world’s soils are already degraded, according to UN agency data, and available arable land could be halved by 2050.
