Report Warns of Grain Shortage as Harvests Fall, Population Soars

WASHINGTON — The world’s ability to match its population growth with more bountiful grain harvests has finally come to an end, ushering in a new age of scarcity in which food prices could soar to record levels while food supplies fall to record lows, the Worldwatch Institute said Wednesday.

The nonprofit institute, which monitors global environmental trends, says the initial signs of shortage are already evident, with world grain consumption having exceeded production for three consecutive years and grain stocks falling to their lowest levels in two decades.

“The evidence that we are moving into a new era is close to overwhelming,” said Worldwatch President Lester R. Brown.

The problem of more mouths and less food is compounded by the fact that farmers around the world are losing land to global industrialization and squandering precious water, Brown said. At the same time, oceanic fisheries have hit their limits, with the seafood catch per person declining 8% since 1989, according to Worldwatch.

As part of a laundry list of recommendations, Brown suggested that national governments increase agricultural research, return idled cropland to production, establish a new tax on meat and convert tobacco lands to grain farms.