8 August 2002

Food and the Future

From BSE to GM, food is news. One strand unites these issues, and it can be summarized in one word: 'sustainability'. The world's population continues to grow, yet resources are finite. Our mission is to squeeze more crops from the same patch of ground, while preserving that patch in a state fit to pass on to further hungry generations. The quest for sustainability is the theme of this Insight.

After World War II, the 'Green Revolution' averted worldwide famine. Half a century on, the world needs yet greater ingenuity to feed itself. Science is again at the sharp end. The public wants it to deliver food to satisfy an increasing population without compromising the integrity of the landscape we live in. Agriculture in the future must be environmentally sensitive and above all, sustainable.

Much current debate on these issues concerns genetically modified crops, but this is only part of the story. Sustainability has lessons for the whole agricultural enterprise, from high-tech viticulture to the depths of the ocean.

This web focus brings together what seems to be a disparate selection of material recently published in Nature. The wide range illustrates, as well as anything can, how issues relating to food touch every sphere of human life.

Food & the future
HENRY GEE
Nature 418, 667 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01012
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Malthus foiled again and again
ANTONY TREWAVAS
Nature 418, 668–670 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01013
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Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices
DAVID TILMAN, KENNETH G. CASSMAN, PAMELA A. MATSON, ROSAMOND NAYLOR & STEPHEN POLASKY
Nature 418, 671–677 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01014
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Enhancing the crops to feed the poor
JIKUN HUANG, CARL PRAY & SCOTT ROZELLE
Nature 418, 678–684 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01015
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Assessing the risks associated with new agricultural practices
R. S. HAILS
Nature 418, 685–688 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01016
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Towards sustainability in world fisheries
DANIEL PAULY, VILLY CHRISTENSEN, SYLVIE GU�NETTE, TONY J. PITCHER, U. RASHID SUMAILA, CARL J. WALTERS, R. WATSON & DIRK ZELLER
Nature 418, 689–695 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01017
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The present and future of the international wine industry
LINDA F. BISSON, ANDREW L. WATERHOUSE, SUSAN E. EBELER, M. ANDREW WALKER & JAMES T. LAPSLEY
Nature 418, 696–699 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01018
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Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication
JARED DIAMOND
Nature 418, 700–707 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01019
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Classic papers

Association of dwarfism and floral induction with a grape 'green revolution' mutation
PAUL K. BOSS & MARK R. THOMAS
Nature 416, 847–850 (2002); doi:10.1038/416847a
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An artificial landscape-scale fishery in the Bolivian Amazon
CLARK L. ERICKSON
Nature 408, 190–193 (2000); doi:10.1038/35041555
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Collapse and recovery of marine fishes
JEFFREY A. HUTCHINGS
Nature 406, 882–885 (2000); doi:10.1038/35022565
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The end of world population growth
WOLFGANG LUTZ, WARREN SANDERSON & SERGEI SCHERBOV
Nature 412, 543–545 (2001); doi:10.1038/35087589
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Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies
ROSAMOND L. NAYLOR , REBECCA J. GOLDBURG , JURGENNE H. PRIMAVERA , NILS KAUTSKY , MALCOLM C. M. BEVERIDGE , JASON CLAY , CARL FOLKE , JANE LUBCHENCO , HAROLD MOONEY & MAX TROELL
Nature 405, 1017–1024 (2000); doi:10.1038/35016500
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Starch grains reveal early root crop horticulture in the Panamanian tropical forest
DOLORES R. PIPERNO , ANTHONY J. RANERE , IRENE HOLST & PATRICIA HANSELL
Nature 407, 894–897 (2000); doi:10.1038/35038055
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Sustainability of three apple production systems
JOHN P. REGANOLD, JERRY D. GLOVER, PRESTON K. ANDREWS & HERBERT R. HINMAN
Nature 410, 926–930 (2001); doi:10.1038/35073574
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Much food, many problems
ANTHONY TREWAVAS
A new agriculture, combining genetic modification technology with sustainable farming, is our best hope for the future.
Nature 402, 231–232 (1999); doi:10.1038/46157
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There's enough food for everyone, but the poor can't afford to buy it
Reply to Trewavas, Nature 402, 231-232 (1999)
JONATHAN R. LATHAM
Nature 404, 222 (2000); doi:10.1038/35005264
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Feeding the world in the twenty-first century
GORDON CONWAY AND GARY TOENNIESSEN
Nature 402, Supplement c55 (1999); doi:10.1038/35011545
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Urban myths of organic farming
ANTHONY TREWAVAS
Nature 410, 409–410 (2001); doi:10.1038/35068639
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Organic movement reveals a shift in the social position of science
Reply to Trewavas, Nature 410, 409-410 (2001)
ANNETTE MØRKEBERG & JOHN R. PORTER
Nature 412, 677 (2001); doi:10.1038/35089231
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Bordeaux Mixture
CHARLES DEXTER WARD
Nature 404, 337 (2000); doi:10.1038/35006178
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Sustaining tropical agriculture
CALESTOUS JUMA reviews Exploring Agrodiversity by Harold Brookfield and Securing the Harvest: Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops by J. DeVries & G. Toenniessen
Nature 415, 960–961 (2002); doi:10.1038/415960a
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Genetic diversity and disease control in rice
YOUYONG ZHU , HAIRU CHEN , JINGHUA FAN , YUNYUE WANG , YAN LI , JIANBING CHEN , JINXIANG FAN , SHISHENG YANG , LINGPING HU , HEI LEUNG , TOM W. MEW , PAUL S. TENG , ZONGHUA WANG & CHRISTOPHER C. MUNDT
Nature 406, 718–722 (2000); doi:10.1038/35021046
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