Feeding More with Less

The 2012 Precision Ag Conference was filled with great speakers, who concentrated their message around one task, doing more with less. Getting more from the land with fewer inputs while improving the overall environment. This idea of increasing productivity is not simply a dream, but a necessity if we plan on being able to continue feeding our world’s growing population.

The challenge is indeed real as I heard some very interesting statistics from Dr. David Clay of South Dakota State University. Dr. Clay stated that for each person born, 1 acre of space is lost to urbanization. In terms of food, he noted that in 1994 we had 1.8 acres to feed each person, but by 2050 we will need to use only .6 acres.

Dr. Clay believes that elevated productivity will not come from increased irrigation, fertilizer use or additional farmland. Our challenges will be me achieved by farming smarter, using precision tools and technology driven by new knowledge to continue our producers on a course of making more from less.