Paul Brennan
CropGen International

It is estimated that, by 2050, the world’s population will have grown from 6.9 billion today to 9.1 billion, a 32% increase, and most of this will take place in the developing world. It is also anticipated that the world’s population will be increasingly urbanized (up from 49 to 70% by 2050) and that income levels in the developing world will be significantly higher than they are in 2010. The dietary habits of this increasingly affluent world population will also change to greater meat consumption, significantly increasing the demand for food grains. Additional demands for grain can be expected from the biofuels sector. These factors are expected to increase the demand for grains in 2050 by 70% over current production levels (FAO, 2009).
It is also anticipated that by 2050 there will be changes to atmospheric CO2 concentrations, mean temperatures, total rainfall and rainfall distribution that are unprecedented in the 12,000 years since agriculture was first practiced in the Fertile Crescent during the Younger Dryas period (Murphy, 2007). These changes will be rapid and possibly more rapid than conventional plant breeding has been able to deliver solutions to emergency stresses in the past. This will require breeding programs to have a faster cycle time.