In about 30 years, the world population will increase to nine billion. (McVeigh, March 2013) This creates an even higher pressure on agriculture than today, because of the growing amounts of food needed to feed the world. Even in the present there are about one billion people, who do not get enough to eat. (McVeigh, March 2013) Therefore it is important to think about a solution to produce enough food for every human being on this earth, without endangering the environment. That appears to be quite difficult because our own food consumption habits have influenced the way food is produced nowadays. Therefore we have to search for both economically and environmentally sustainable solutions for the increasing demands on agriculture in our own appreciation of food.
There are many reasons why we should think critically about our own food consumption habits and the way food is produced, one of them is the waste that we all produce because of not eating the things we bought in the supermarket. A recent study has shown that nearly two thirds of the bagged salad offered in supermarkets, almost half of all bakery and four out of ten apples are thrown away, either by the supermarkets or by the customers. (Johnston, October 2013)
This shows a big problem in our relation to food and our attitude towards it’s variety and accessibility. We regard it as normal to go into the supermarket and by whatever things we want, not depending on season or time. That this is only possible, because food production has adjusted to the customer’s desires is often forgotten. Food is produced cheaper and cheaper, so that people can buy as many things they want and also as variable they want. For us this appears to be an advantage but we have to think about the other side. The production is often really harming our environment with the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions or the way animals are treated. (McVeigh, March 2013)
These circumstances underline the importance of