The challenge
Within 40 years, our planet will have to feed 10 billion people.
This explosion means we must produce more food in the next century than we have in the history of agriculture. The brunt will fall on the United States, where we have the most fertile soils, available water and technology to increase production. We will have to do this with less land, as agricultural properties are developed and degraded. We will have less water available for agriculture, due to rising needs and declining quality.
We must answer this challenge in a way that protects our environment.
Without clean water, this is impossible.
Keeping water clean is much more cost effective than cleaning it up.
We cannot expect more government funding to solve this problem.
Agriculture-related conservation funding peaked in 2009 and is expected to decline. State governments are struggling, and federal spending will be constrained for the foreseeable future. The upcoming federal Farm Bill provides an opportunity to rethink the way conservation dollars are spent in America.
We must find a way to get better results with less money.