From Farm to Market: Integrating Technology, Finance,
and Policy in Agribusiness

CODEN: FAMOCP
ISSN: 2716-6678 (Online)
Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Food and agribusiness exert a massive economic, social, and environmental impact, representing a $5 trillion industry that accounts for 10 percent of global consumer spending, 40 percent of employment, and 30 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions. Over the past 50 years, productivity gains have enabled abundant food supplies in many regions, yet feeding the growing global population has emerged as a critical challenge. If current trends continue, by 2050 caloric demand is projected to rise by 70 percent, and crop demand for both human consumption and animal feed is expected to increase by at least 100 percent. At the same time, resource constraints are intensifying: 40 percent of global water demand in 2030 may go unmet, over 20 percent of arable land is already degraded, and food and energy production are increasingly competing for crops such as corn and sugar. Left unaddressed, these pressures could trigger widespread political and social unrest. While agricultural technologies that boost productivity in challenging conditions, along with the expansion of arable land in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and South America, may help alleviate some pressure, meeting global demand will ultimately require transformative changes that disrupt current trends.