2050

Understanding food - where it comes from; how to get it to everyone who needs it in a cost-effective but sustainable way; what's healthy and what isn't - has never seemed a more urgent challenge.  Halcyon is therefore monitoring key food-related trends around the world, e.g.

• Major changes are needed in agriculture and food consumption around the world if future generations are to be adequately fed.
• Some communities are well on their way towards achieving food security, growing (and where appropriate giving away) all their own produce.

See also: pre-2012 Halcyon food headlines.

• Food trends over the previous decade.
   
• For many, organic was a synonym for “tasty” or “healthy” food.  But the episode of the German-grown bean sprouts reminded us that, when dealing with the so-called organic myth, a little bit of critical thinking (and eating) would stand us in good stead.
• Food prices hit a record high in early 2011, surpassing the levels seen during the 2007-08 crisis, according to a UN food index.
• By mid 2011, poor harvests and increased demand, particularly from China, have forced up food prices on world markets.
• The era of cheap food is therefore at an end, according to recent reports, with the real prices of key crops set to rise 50-100% during the next 40 years.
• Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system, Oxfam warned, forecasting that, by 2030, the average cost of key crops could increase by between 120% and 180%.
• The End of Food argued that the entire system of food production will need to change radically over coming years.
• Over the next 40 years, the world’s population may increase to 9 billion plus, with most of the increase occurring in the developing world.  To avoid food shortages on an unprecedented global scale, crop yields must be increased by a similar margin during the same timeframe.
• Food - Halcyon archive