Files
Abstract
The Sir John Crawford Memorial Address has been
presented since 1985, in honour of the distinguished
Australian civil servant, educator and agriculturalist in
whose name the Crawford Fund was established. Sir John
Crawford was a remarkable Australian who contributed
at the highest levels, and was a passionate supporter of
international agricultural research for development.
This talk draws attention to four current and interrelated
trends that suggest the world will be rather different by
2025, only 13 years away. The four trends are: population
growth; rapidly expanding urbanisation especially in
Africa and Asia; changes in patterns of demand for food and energy by
the increasingly large and prosperous ‘middle class’; and climate change.
Beyond 2025, the prospects are frightening if the momentum of both
population growth and greenhouse gas emissions (which, once in the
atmosphere, continue to affect climate for 20 years) is not very soon
brought under control. A range of solutions are available to improve
agricultural production and therefore food security, but they need strong
corresponding improvements in storage practices, pest and disease
management, and new attitudes to wastage of food. Food supplies and food
prices depend on the weather all over the world, and the extra billion
people by 2025, living mostly in cities, will need food and energy. Effective
action on the factors — including agricultural practices — that are driving
climate change is now very urgently needed.