Humanity’s Quiet Triumph: How We’re Winning the Fight Against Famine
Despite ongoing global challenges, the world is producing more food than ever before, a remarkable achievement often overshadowed by headlines of conflict and crisis.This progress, built on centuries of innovation, offers a powerful counter-narrative to the age-old specter of widespread starvation.
A poignant reminder of past scarcity can be found in New york City’s Battery Park City. Tucked away on Vesey Street, the Irish Hunger Memorial-a collection of stones, soil, and moss overlooking the hudson River-commemorates the devastating Irish famine of the mid-19th century. This tragedy, which led to the deaths of at least 1 million people and forced millions more to emigrate, particularly to cities like New York, is unusually well-remembered, with over 100 memorials worldwide.
This focus is notable, as other famines of comparable or even greater scale have received far less public attention. The 1943 Bengal famine in India and China’s 1959-’61 famine, both claiming millions of lives, largely lack similar widespread commemoration. Researchers estimate that as 1870 alone, approximately 140 million people have perished from famine, a grim statistic dwarfed only by the even more frequent and deadly famines of earlier eras. One particularly horrific famine in northern Europe in the early 14th century wiped out as much as 12 percent of the region’s population in just a few years.
However, while hunger remains a pervasive issue, famines themselves are becoming increasingly rare-and are now more often the result of political failures than agricultural ones. This shift represents one of humanity’s greatest,yet often unrecognized,achievements. “It’s one of the great human achievements of the modern age, one we too frequently enough fail to recognize,” one analyst noted.
The news on food production is remarkably positive. Current projections indicate the world is on track to grow more grain this year than ever before. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) anticipates record levels of production for key cereal crops-wheat, corn, and rice-in the 2025-’26 farming season.Crucially, the global stocks-to-use ratio is around 30.6 percent, meaning the world is producing nearly a third more of these foundational crops than it currently consumes.
The US Department of Agriculture’s August outlook reinforces this trend,forecasting a record US corn crop and,more importantly,a record yield-the amount of crop grown per acre. This increased yield is vital, as it means less land is needed to meet global food demand. while the FAO Food Price Index has seen a slight increase this year,it remains nearly 20 percent below its 2011 peak.
Though, the future isn’t guaranteed. Climate change poses a growing threat. Rising temperatures will increase with rising temperatures,particularly through heat,drought,and simultaneous disasters affecting multiple breadbasket regions. Adaptation strategies-smarter agronomy, stress-tolerant varieties, and efficient irrigation-can mitigate losses up to around 2 degrees Celsius of warming, but options become limited beyond that threshold.
Furthermore, trade restrictions pose a notable threat. The 2007-2008 food price crisis was driven more by political restrictions on exports than by production failures,leading to price spikes that disproportionately harmed the poor. This precedent is concerning given the renewed push for tariffs and trade barriers.
The Irish Hunger Memorial serves as a powerful reminder of the horrors of scarcity-and how far humanity has come. after millennia of accepting hunger as inevitable, we have built a food system that, despite its imperfections, feeds eight billion people and continues to break harvest records. For all the challenges we face today and may encounter tomorrow, this is a story worth commemorating.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!
You’ve read 1 article in the last month
Here at Vox,we’re unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you – threats to democracy,immigration,reproductive rights,the environment,and the rising polarization across this country.
Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independant reporting that drives meaningful change.
We rely on readers like you – join us.
Swati Sharma
Vox Editor-in-Chief
