World Food Production_ Preface
It is widely recognized that agriculture – as a primary objective – aims to produce a quantity and quality of food that suffi ciently and adequately satisfi es the needs of all the planet’s inhabitants, present and future.
In addition, agriculture has always supplied non-food, yet essential raw materials for the lives of humans such as fi bres (wool, silk, cotton, linen, hemp), animal skins, energy sources (wood, biomass, biofuels) and other materials (for industrial and building applications), all of which have the dual advantage of being renewable and, on the whole, biodegradable.
Apart from this, there are two further aspects related to agriculture that must be mentioned:
– agriculture (including forest management) makes an important contribution to rendering many territories ‘inhabitable’
– drainage systems, hill and mountain slope stabilization, utilization of woods, creation of pleasant landscapes etc.;
– other human activities, though relevant in so much that they contribute to generating ‘more human’ living conditions, affect the natural system in a way that is not always compatible with its survival (thus neither that of humans).
It is enough to think about the increase in urban areas, roads, railways, bridges, ports, dykes and dams, to the chopping
down of forests and destruction of wetlands, to the occupation of soil, diversion of water courses, creation of artifi cial landscapes etc., to everything that affects climate change (via greenhouse gas emission) directly or indirectly, that alters surface water (rivers, lakes, seas, oceans) and groundwater (aquifers) sources and the soil because it pollutes them, thereby reducing the productivity potential (soil fertility is depressed and ‘blue’ water availability for domestic use or irrigation is reduced, in turn risking desertifi cation or less than ideal conditions for aquatic life).
The depletion of energy resources and raw materials is also not to be ignored.
Although the above mentioned human activities are only partially pertinent when talking about agriculture…
Pagg. IX – XIV World Food Production
