“A study by the U.K. Institution of Mechanical Engineers found that somewhere between 30 percent and 50 percent of all the food grown in the world never makes it to the plate,” and “[u]p to one billion people are malnourished or hungry,” a Guardian editorial writes. “But food security is not just a problem for the poor. It will become, increasingly, a problem for everybody. That is because of population growth,” the editorial continues. A growing population means dwindling space available to grow food and stress on water resources, and a rising “appetite for meat … pushes up the price and reduces the supply of wheat, rice, maize and other staples for the poorer communities,” the editorial notes.

“Things that could be done: genetic research could offer new ways of resisting crop pests and disease; agricultural science could deliver new ways of enriching soil and enhancing yields; better education could encourage more careful preservation and use of resources,” The Guardian states. “But all these would require years of concerted political engagement on an international scale,” the editorial notes. “Food, either wasted on the plate or withered in the soil, is not just a problem for the market,” the editorial continues, concluding, “It is a problem for the world’s politicians, and one that becomes increasingly ominous, everywhere, with each successive harvest” (4/7).