Facts, Trends and Potential Solutions to Feed the World’s Population

Many young people in our country know only very little about agriculture. Not even this year’s exceptionally dry summer in Germany will have made it clear just how vulnerable our nutritional basis is. That is different in many developing countries, where people struggle almost on a daily basis to secure adequate supplies of grain and vegetables. Meat and dairy products are still frequently seen as a luxury in rural areas. And at first glance, future prospects are not exactly a source of hope.

The challenges are demanding: the global population continues to grow – according to United Nations’ estimates, to a total of about 10 billion people in the next 30 years. To exacerbate the situation even further, this population growth will be almost exclusively in Africa. At the same time, natural production conditions for food are deteriorating in many parts of the world. For example, for some time now karstification, salinization and urbanization are resulting in the loss of 10 million hectares of agricultural land every year. And Africa is disproportionately affected by these losses. In the last 50 years alone, fertile areas the size of France (650,000 square kilometers) have been transformed into barren steppes and deserts.

In view of these menacing findings, the company K+S Aktiengesellschaft in cooperation with the Handelsblatt Research Institute, has compiled the most important facts and arguments about “World Nutrition” on a scientific basis. The central question is how adequate supplies of food can be secured in future for growing populations in emerging and developing countries, while areas of agricultural land continue to shrink.

The presentation is in the form of a fact book presented by Prof. Bert Rürup, President of the Handelsblatt Research Institute and Chief Economist of the the Handelsblatt at this year’s FUTURE FOOD FORUM. The explanation of complex content using graphics, provides a broad readership with easy access to the subject matter. Although information graphics and plausible statistics alone cannot cover the whole issue of world nutrition exhaustively, they do provide a serious basis for a fruitful discussion about practical solutions.

Creative ideas and sustainable strategies for ensuring world food production provide the central focus for the day; these issues will be discussed in an active dialogue with Handelsblatt editors and will be vividly illustrated with multimedia elements.

Further keynote speakers will be Dr. Gerd Müller, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Tassos Haniotis, Director of Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as Arif Husain, Chief Economist and Head of Analysis and Trends in food safety at the World Food Program of the United Nations.

Please note

More information about the program and chance to register for the “Future Food Forum” available at www.future-food-forum.de.

About K+S

K+S is a customer-focused, independent minerals company for the Agriculture, Industry, Consumers, and Communities segments and wants to grow the EBITDA to € 3 billion by 2030. Our approximately 15,000 employees enable farmers to provide nutrition for the world, solutions that keep industries going, improve daily life for consumers and provide safety in winter. We continually meet the growing demand for mineral products from production sites in Europe, North and South America as well as a worldwide sales network. We strive for sustainability because we are deeply committed to our responsibilities to people, the environment, the communities and the economy in the regions in which we operate. Learn more about K+S at www.k-plus-s.com.