For a lot of us, food production is something that we take for granted. We go to the grocery store and bring home food. But some of the details about how it works might just make your jaw drop. Check out this list of facts about global food production that you might never be able to forget.
Where The World’s Food Comes From:
3/4 of the food produced for the entire world comes from only 5 animals and 12 plants. Spoiler alert: it’s a lot of beef and corn.
Who Grows It:
Everyone knows family farms are important, but did you know HOW important? 9 our of 10 farms in the world are family farms, NOT those big commercial guys.
What Makes Up All That Food:
Grains. Like, a ton of grains. Like 45% of the food produced for the whole world is grains. That’s a lot of bread.
How Many People Make It:
Would you believe that nearly one-third of the people employed in the whole world are in agriculture? Believe it. 30.7%!
How Much Water It Uses:
The flipside to food production? It uses a lot of resources, especially water. Global food production uses about 70% of the world’s water supply every year.
How Much Gets Thrown Away:
This one is nuts. In the U.S. almost 141 TRILLION calories of food is thrown away every year. No kidding. Think about that the next time you order the extra large order of fries.
How Much More Production We Need:
It won’t surprise you that the global population is skyrocketing. But what might shock you is how much global food production needs to grow in order to accommodate it. The world needs to produce 974 calories per person PER DAY by the year 2050 to keep up with population growth.
