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With the global population predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050, and incomes in developing countries to continue rising as well, increased global demand for food in the coming decades will place unprecedented pressure on sustainable food production. Climate change poses a further challenge, as changes in temperature and precipitation threaten agricultural productivity and the world’s capacity to feed a growing population.

Worldwide climatic events in 2010 made it clear that food security can be greatly impacted by unexpected changes in climate. Wildfires in Russia, floods in Pakistan and Australia, and drought in China led to increases in the price of staple agricultural commodities and caused widespread fear about the recurrence of a world food crisis. As the world's population continues to grow, a changing climate will present more and more challenges to sustainable agricultural growth and food security.

Feeding a growing world population, likely to reach 9 billion by 2050, poses an unprecedented challenge to human ingenuity. How to satisfy the demand for food by the some 8 billion people who will live in the developing world is a particularly pressing food security question. Even in the best of circumstances, sustainably satisfying the increased demand for crops and livestock by these people will be an enormous challenge. The negative consequences of climate change on food production make meeting these food requirements even more daunting.