from: Plentytothinkabout.org
“About a billion people go hungry each day,” says Elanco Animal Health
President Jeff Simmons, who narrates a newly released video shown above.
That’s more people than the combined population of the United States,
the European Union and Canada, he points out.
“Our population is growing. By the year 2050, the United Nations
predicts the world population will grow to over nine billion people, and
to feed that many people we’ll need to produce 100 percent more food
than we did in the year 2000,” he says.
The current world population is slightly over 7 billion; by 2050, it
is expected to exceed 9 billion. That is roughly a 30 percent increase,
but the world’s appetite for food will actually double because of higher
living standards in developing countries.
Simmons, shown narrating the video at Gleaners food bank in
Indianapolis, says the way to meet this increased demand is through
technology.
“But standing in the way is a myth you sometimes hear — a myth that
says people don’t want safe, efficient technology used in food
production,” he says.
“How do we know it’s a myth? Because we did some research” assembling
data from 28 independent studies representing nearly 100,000 consumers
in 26 countries, he says.
“It turns out that 95 percent of the consumers buy food based on
taste, cost and nutrition,” he adds. Another 4 percent or so are
lifestyle buyers. “These are luxury buyers, gourmet consumers, people
who prefer to buy organic or local food, where money really isn’t as
much of an issue to them.”
All consumers should have a choice, Simmons says. Lifestyle buyers
have their choice, but so should the vast majority of consumers who want
affordable food — and technology helps make that happen.