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Comment by electromagnetic

> The world’s population is expected to increase to 9.1 billion by 2050 ... Feeding all those people will mean increasing food production by 70%

According to the World Bank we're already at almost 6.8 billion people. This means we'd need to feed an extra 33% of the worlds population, meaning we'd need approximately 33% more food as our food usage already factors in losses from production, delivery, etc.

The only way you get 70% is if you made 9.1 the divisor when it is the dividend. You take where we will be 9.1, divide it by where we are 6.8 and you get how much more production we need 33% (IE 133% of present). If 9.1 is the divisor you get ~75%, more likely 70% as this will have been based off of a few year older (but likely slightly more accurate) population counts.

So, to put it simply, a whole bunch of people in the UN can't do basic math.

> Soil erosion will not be a problem because the food will be grown hydroponically—in other words, in a solution of minerals dissolved in water.

In other words - it will taste like nothing. Ever tried a hydroponically grown tomato? Ever tried one after eating a local vine ripened or even a home grown tomato? If you have, I bet you never tasted the hydroponic tomato.

I've eaten hydroponic tomatoes over the past decade and never noticed a difference or improvement, so how long before its actually edible, and actually worth purchasing? I even frequently see the hydroponic tomatoes to be paler and more tasteless than even the cheap tomatoes imported from half way across the country that were picked weeks before ripeness.

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