By: Robyn Stewart<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was in college at UGA, one of my favorite classes I took was called \u201cIssues in Animal Agriculture.\u201d The class, led by Dr. Jillian Fain, discussed some of the most commonly referenced conversations about current agricultural practices. We covered topics like product labeling, environmental stewardship, the use of growth hormones in animal production, farrowing vs gestation crate use in swine, equine slaughter, and any number of relevant and timely issues. I think this class was one of the most interesting and most important I took as someone who was (and is!) passionate about discussing and supporting agriculture in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s estimated that by 2050, the population of the world will be increase by 2.1 billion people, for which we will need to produce 56% more food. One of the primary concerns of agricultural industries is how our production capacity is going to keep up with this population change. If you do a quick google search, there are many articles that present strongly worded plans for how we\u2019re going to accomplish this goal- in 5 steps or 22. Furthermore, the conversation is often presented with heavy bias and very little scientific evidence or facts. The issue of feeding the world is multifaceted and includes conversations around human population and socioeconomics, environmental and conservation concerns, and animal and human welfare issues. Population growth and changing demographics pose a unique challenge\u2014how do we redistribute food wealth so the disparity between starvation and malnutrition versus obesity and overconsumption is lessened? How do we address the challenge of food waste and loss to make the most of what we can produce, instead of having to trash perfectly usable food? How can agriculture producers be responsible stewards of the environment and work on conserving precious resources like water and land? How do we use new and cutting-edge technologies to maximize our production and limit our resource use? And perhaps most important, how to we ensure that our food systems are providing safe, healthy products for the wellbeing of our consumers? Unfortunately, feeding the world is not nearly as simple of a question or task as we would like for it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, a recent step by UGA Animal and Dairy Science was taken towards the \u201cfeeding the world\u201d question. Agriculture industries are in a critical place, where we need to consider the core issues with our practices and address what solutions may be appropriate for tackling them. A recent study through UGA found seven major themes that are being faced by todays agriculture industry. These themes were: \u201cindustry image and relationship with the public; workforce development and pipeline; economic and environmental sustainability; animal and human health\/well-being; production and distribution efficiency; government regulations and relationship with legislative leaders; and relationship with higher education\/researchers.\u201d These themes are being used to guide the UGA Animal and Dairy Science program but are also relevant for the agriculture industry as a whole to navigate the ever-changing landscape of producing in the modern age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t even begin to navigate the facets of this discussion in a simple newspaper article, but I did want to acknowledge some resources for those interested in learning more. As you do your research, make sure to look for sources that have an .edu address or are through a reputable, research-based source. Some reputable places to look for articles or information include Harvard, Perdue, MIT, and more. A 2018 book by Purdue University professors titled \u201cHow To Feed The World\u201d is one I am hoping to read over Christmas to dig deeper into this subject. I\u2019m always happy to chat about agriculture with the public, so please feel free to reach out at uge3181@uga.edu<\/a> or 706-359-3233 if you\u2019d like to open the conversation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Robyn Stewart When I was in college at UGA, one of my favorite classes I took was called \u201cIssues in Animal Agriculture.\u201d The class, led by Dr. Jillian Fain, discussed some of the most commonly referenced conversations about current agricultural practices. We covered topics like product labeling, environmental stewardship, the use of growth hormones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-agriculture","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}