Fresh Air: As Global Population Grows, Is the Earth Reaching the 'End of Plenty'?

In the 1960s, the farmers of Egypt grew enough wheat to feed the country and export some to its neighbors.  But as the country's population grew, its farmers couldn't keep up, and Egypt is now the world's largest importer of wheat.  When international food prices spiked in 2008, there were bread riots in the streets of Cairo.  Our guest Joel Bourne says Egypt's problems illustrate a terrifying fact facing all humanity - the world is running out of food.

In his new book, Bourne chronicles the trends making it likely we'll see more hunger and malnutrition in coming decades.  While the Earth's population is growing rapidly, our ability to feed it is undermined by a loss of arable land due to climate change, growing water shortages, the use of valuable farmland to grow biofuels and the fact that many of us eat so much meat, which is a highly inefficient way to use the grain we grow.  Bourne says there are some promising developments and ways to meet the threat, but time is running out.

Read more at Fresh Air:  As Global Population Grows, Is the Earth Reaching the 'End of Plenty'?