‘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

College of Agriculture adds 6 to ranks of Distinguished Ag Alumni

The College of Agriculture recognized six alumni at the Distinguished Agricultural Alumni award...

Purdue ag students holding signs at the 2024 AgDay College Roadshow.

Calling ag students to join the AgDay College Roadshow

Hosted by Clinton Griffiths, Farm Journal reporter, AgDay College Roadshow will feature a live...

Chetak LLC Group Expands Product Recall

On September 10, 2025, Chetak LLC Group announced an expansion to their July 16th recall of...

Exterior of the Hobart and Russell Creighton Hall of Animal Sciences at Purdue University, showing a modern glass façade with large windows, gray stone columns and landscaped lawn in the foreground.

Animal sciences students gain hands-on experience through summer internships

Purdue ANSC students gain hands-on skills and career insights through summer internships.

Inventing a lower-sugar cookie that’s still a treat

Every job has its perks. For Lisa Mauer, “cookie baking trials” is one of hers. ...

Halee Fisher infant of the White House in her cap and gown.

Purdue alumna Halee Fisher grows a career at the USDA

Purdue University alumna Halee Fisher, who earned degrees in Agricultural Economics and Political...