‘How to Feed the World’ offers practical, positive solutions to food insecurity

A new book of essays by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Purdue University helps readers understand how decisions made today by farmers, scientists, policymakers, educators and consumers are vital to ensuring global food security in coming decades.

The book “How to Feed the World,” is now available from Island Press. It includes 12 chapters examining key challenges and opportunities in the global food system. Topics are population growth, water scarcity, land use, climate change, technology adoption, competing food systems, international trade, food waste and loss, health, social license to operate, communication and achieving equal access to food.

“By 2050, we will have 10 billion mouths to feed in a world profoundly altered by environmental change,” said co-editor Jessica Eise, Ross Fellow in the Brian Lamb School of Communication. “How we meet this challenge will be the difference between food abundance and shortage, environmental preservation or destruction, and even life and death.”

Plain-language essays offer practical, positive solutions ranging from precision agriculture and nanotechnology to making healthy choices at the grocery store.

“We have the tools and ingenuity needed to achieve global food security,” says Ken Foster, professor of agricultural economics and co-editor of the book. “But the pursuit of a secure future begins with a clear understanding of the challenges facing our food system today.”

In addition to Eise and Foster, other Purdue contributors are Michael Boehlje, Otto Doering, Michael Gunderson, Thomas Hertel, Rhonda Phillips, Gerald Shively, Brigitte Waldorf, Nicole Olynk Widmar and Steven Wu, all from the Department of Agricultural Economics; Laura Bowling, agronomy; Keith Cherkauer, agricultural and biological engineering; Jeff Dukes, Purdue Climate Change Research Center; and Ariana Torres, horticulture and landscape architecture and agricultural economics.

To learn more about the book, including ordering information, go to http://islandpress.org/book/how-to-feed-the-world.

Featured Stories

Yunmei Huang: Purdue’s Esri student of the year

What if? It’s a question that drives innovation, and one that inspires Yunmei Huang, a PhD...

Milk and motorsports: dairy’s lasting legacy in the Indy 500

Sunday, Hoosiers and racing fans from across the country gathered to watch the iconic Indy 500...

2025 Department of Biochemistry Spring Awards

The following awards, scholarships, and recognitions are presented by the department each Spring.

Professor Jim Forney Retires After 36 Years

Professor Jim Forney retired in Fall 2024 after 36 years at Purdue. During that time, he has...

2024-25 Department of Biochemistry Publications

Publications associated with Department of Biochemistry faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and...

Carlos Corvalan, associate professor of food science and the project’s supervisor works on screen in lab at Purdue.

From lab to table: Purdue Food Science research predicts texture with machine learning

The creaminess of custard. The fizz of foam. The slurpability of soup. Texture is just as...