Eight billion people live on Earth today.

On November 15th of this year, the world’s population will reach the iconic figure of 8 billion. It took about 11 years for the Earth’s population to grow to her billion. By 2058, the Earth’s population is estimated to reach her 10 billion.
That’s a lot of people.
Whenever humanity is reminded of a growing population, we wonder if and how long we will have the capacity to adequately feed ourselves.
Amazingly, 90% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere, with almost 40% of the northern hemisphere’s surface area being land, while the southern hemisphere’s surface area is only 20%.
More than half of the world’s population lives in Asia. Once you visit this part of the world, you’ll realize that Canadian space is an overlooked asset. Our abundant space determines the quality of our lives, our policies and the way we eat. Most people don’t realize this, but it’s true.
But are we producing enough to feed 8, 9, or 10 billion people on Earth? The answer is yes.
The food sector is adapting and developing new technologies at an alarming pace. Many underestimate the ability of agrifood stakeholders to adapt, from farms to consumers. Our planet produces enough food to feed her more than eight billion people, but systemic inequalities and economic disparities lead to disproportionate distribution and Irregular access is occurring. Corruption, pandemics, poverty, lack of infrastructure and, of course, geopolitical conflicts, as we have seen in Ukraine and Russia this year, often undermine our global food security.
We produce enough to feed the planet, but climate change remains the greatest threat to our agricultural systems.For centuries, humans have adapted to risks. We must find solutions to sudden problems such as floods, droughts, fires and hurricanes. But climate change doesn’t make risks go away. Risk inherently travels and threatens other parts of the food supply chain.
A “first aid” solution is no longer viable. Increasing the resilience of the industry requires extreme adaptability. This is what the recent Federal Task Force on Supply Chain advocated.
And Canada is making a difference. In fact, the Burton Report, published five years ago, provided us with a road map in this regard. The Burton Report talks about unlocking the potential of key sectors and identifies agribusiness as one of them. And fortunately, Canada delivered the goods, but we rarely talk about it.
The report cites a growing global population, growing demand for protein in Asia and the need for reliable markets such as Canada. Become the trusted global leader in healthy, nutritious and sustainable food. The report shows that Canada could become the second largest exporter in the world. Secondly, no less.
Our agro-food sector strengths include a reliable food supply, resource availability, arable land location and a strong research base. In addition, global opportunities are associated with explosive demand from emerging markets and increasing global supply constraints for land, water, energy and carbon emissions.
Our agri-food exports continue to grow despite challenges in the sector, surpassing $82 billion in 2021, with a previous commitment to increase agri-food exports to at least $75 billion by 2025. exceeded the target of We can do better.
The problem is that Canada is rarely mentioned when people discuss food security and international powerhouses. Holland, Denmark and the USA are often mentioned, but we have no reputation at all. Our image as a global agricultural provider is a little less flashy.
We need to brag about it and celebrate the incredible contributions of the agri-food sector internationally as often as possible.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is Senior Director of the Agri-Food Analysis Lab and Professor of Food Distribution and Policy at Dalhousie University.

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