Feeding a “bulging population”.
November 4, 2009Friday October 23rd was amazing.
At lunch, you could find me front row at the Economic Club of Canada’s presentation held in downtown Toronto’s prestigious National Club. As part of a University of Guelph agricultural communications students, I listened to Syngenta Canada President, Jay Bradshaw, speak to the Club on Canadian agriculture and its future.
Among the themes Bradshaw brought up, he circled around modern agriculture’s challenge to feed a “bulging population”. And I thought to myself: STILL??
As an agricultural student in University, we were hounded in agricultural economics about past theorists including the revolutionary economist Thomas Malthus. He is famous for his 1798 population essay which stated that global populations would increase at a faster rate than food production leading to a massive food shortage. In University we were taught how this theory was presented and then made irrelevant by events such as the Green Revolution.
Needless to say, when Bradshaw began stressing our “bulging population” and the crisis it is beginning to impose on modern agriculture I felt like an ancient theory was reliving itself. As I did some research after his talk it became clear that in fact a number of modern Thomas Malthus’s are arising. It was a personal lesson that one can never forget how dynamic and unpredictable life is. Old ideas (no matter how ancient or irrelevant they may seem) can and will present themselves again.
Among many things, Friday’s presentation taught me that as a recent grad I can never take my education as absolute law because its relevance will change as this industry continues to progress in an ever-changing society or climate. You can never truly lie the past to rest.
Welcome back Mr. Malthus!
