Six hundred guests from the food industry were at London's Guildhall on 18th January 2011 to hear Paul Polman deliver the annual City Food Lecture: Food Security in a Changing Climate.
In his lecture, Paul reminded the audience that the global population will reach 9.6 billion by 2050, leading to an extra 3 billion mouths to feed. Production will need to increase by 70%, according to the United Nations.
Paul made four practical proposals for change within agriculture:
The development of more sustainable farming models to produce more food
A dramatic boost in investment to hit the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s target of $83 billion (€62 billion) a year to meet increasing demand
The ending of ‘market-distorting’ subsidies which promote, for example, the production of unsustainable first-generation biofuels
The freeing up of trade and the end of European Union subsidies that discriminate against poorer nations.