Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creative and Innovative Research: Our Only Hope for Achieving Sustainable Food and Energy Security

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Convergence of Food Security, Energy Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 67))

  • 1791 Accesses

Abstract

Food and energy security are among the most critical challenges on our planet today. Food is required for our survival. Likewise, energy is necessary to sustain our civilization as we know and have come to expect. It is important to realize that while food and energy are inextricability linked, there is a common denominator for a solution to meeting these challenges. If we as a society are to meet the needs and greater expectations of over nine billion people who will inhabit this planet in only 40 years, there must be a robust commitment to research. Research is critical to developing new and innovative technology that will enable a new paradigm in food production. Also, research is critical to developing more effective means of harvesting all fossil energy remaining on the planet, but more importantly, research will enable the development of alternative sources of energy. Consequently, investment in research is clearly our best and only hope for a sustainable society.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abbott PC, Hurt C, Tyner WE (2008) What’s driving food prices? Farm Foundation Issue Report, July 2008. Farm Foundation, Oak Brook, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams AL (1934) Furnace for burning bagasse. US Patent 1,952,227

    Google Scholar 

  • Armah P, Archer A, Phillips GC (2009) Drivers leading to higher food prices: biofuels are not the main factor. In Vitro Plant 45:330–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beadle GW (1939) Teosinte and the origin of maize. J Hered 30:245–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Bongaarts J (2009) Human population growth and the demographic transition. Philos Trans R Soc B 364:2985–2990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borlaug NE (2002) The green revolution revisited and the road ahead. September, http://nobelprize.org/. 24 Nov 2009

  • Burney JA, Davisc SJ, Lobella DB (2010) Greenhouse gas mitigation by agricultural intensification. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:12052–12057

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson CG, Clay DE, Wright C, Reitsma KD (2010) Potential impacts of linking ethanol, crop production, and backgrounding calves on economics, carbon, and nutrient budgets. SDSU extension publication. http://pubstorage.sdstate.edu/AgBio_Publications/articles/exex8165.pdf

  • Christodouleas JP, Forest RD, Ainsley CG, Tochner Z, Hahn SM, Glatstein E (2011) Short-term and long-term health risks of nuclear-power plant accidents. New Engl J Med 346:2334–2341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (2006) Convergence of agriculture and energy: implications for research and policy. CAST Commentary QTA2006-3. CAST, Ames, IA

    Google Scholar 

  • Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (2010). Agricultural productivity strategies for the future: addressing U.S. and global challenges. Issue Paper 45. CAST, Ames, IA

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahl R (2005) Heavy traffic ahead. Car culture accelerates. Environ Health Perspect 113:A239–A245

    Google Scholar 

  • Deaton A (2008) Income, health and wellbeing around the world: evidence from the Gallup World Poll. J Econ Perspect 22:53–72

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (2002) Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication. Nature 418:700–707

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edgerton M (2009) Increasing crop productivity to meet global needs for feed, food, and fuel. Plant Physiol 149:7–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldemberg J (2008) The Brazilian biofuels industry. Biotechnol Biofuels 1:6

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harding TK, Khanna MJ, Orbach RL (2012) International fusion energy cooperation. Sci Diplomacy 1:58–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson J (2008) What is driving food price inflation? The Main Street Economist 31:1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Jank MS (2008) Cane for sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity: a global economy. UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry. http://www.unica.com.br

  • Lewis NS, Nocera DG (2006) Powering the planet: chemical challenges in solar energy utilization. Proc Natl Acad Sci 103:15729–15735

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu X, McElroy MB, Kiviluoma J (2009) Global potential for wind-generated energy. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106:10933–10938

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuoka S, Ferro J, Arruda P (2009) The Brazilian experience in sugarcane ethanol industry. In Vitro Plant 45:372–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller R, Keller M (2009) The DOE BioEnergy Science Center—a U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center. In Vitro Plant 45:193–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Academy of Sciences (2010) Overview and summary of America’s energy future: technology and transformation. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, p 58

    Google Scholar 

  • Nehring R (2009) Traversing the mountaintop: world fossil fuel production to 2050. Philos Trans R Soc B 364:3067–3079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips S, Aden A, Jechura J, Dayton D (2007) Thermochemical ethanol via indirect gasification and mixed alcohol synthesis of lignocellulosic biomass. NREL Report No TP-510-41168. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41168.pdf

  • Potrykus I (2010) Regulation must be revolutionized. Nature 466:561

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ragauskas AJ, Williams CK, Davison BH, Britovsek G, Cairney J, Eckert CA, Frederick WJ Jr, Hallett JP, Leak DJ, Liotta CL, Mielenz JR, Murphy R, Templer R, Tschaplinski T (2006) The path forward for biofuels and biomaterials. Science 311:484–489

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tao L, Aden A (2009) The economics of current and future biofuels. In Vitro Plant 45:199–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tweeten L, Thompson S (2009) Long-term global agricultural output supply-demand balance, and real farm and food prices. Farm Policy J 6 (Feb. Quarter): 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • UN-FAO (2010) The state of food insecurity in the World 2010. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1683e/i1683e00.htm

  • Veenhoven R (2010) Life is getting better: societal evolution and fit with human experience. Soc Indic Res 97:105–122

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang M, Wu M, Huo H (2007) Life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of different corn ethanol plant types. Environ Res Lett 2:1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory, University of Georgia, 2356 Rainwater Rd., Tifton, GA, 31793-0748, USA

    Gale A. Buchanan

  2. Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, and the Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C2200, ETC 9.146, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Raymond L. Orbach

Authors
  1. Gale A. Buchanan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Raymond L. Orbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gale A. Buchanan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director of Research/Cell Biology, Cibus LLC, San Diego, California, USA

    David D. Songstad

  2. National Laboratory for Agriculture and, USDA-ARS, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Jerry L. Hatfield

  3. Grimes, Iowa, USA

    Dwight T. Tomes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Buchanan, G.A., Orbach, R.L. (2014). Creative and Innovative Research: Our Only Hope for Achieving Sustainable Food and Energy Security. In: Songstad, D., Hatfield, J., Tomes, D. (eds) Convergence of Food Security, Energy Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 67. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55262-5_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation