FAO initiative aims to expand sustainable crop production methods among small farmers

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a report on Monday outlining a new initiative that aims to expand sustainable crop production, Wall Street Journal's "The Source" blog reports.

"The present paradigm of intensive crop production cannot meet the challenges of the new millennium," the FAO said in its report, called Save and Grow (Henshaw, 6/13). According to the FAO, "global farm output must increase 70 percent, including a nearly 100 percent jump in developing countries, to feed the world in 2050," Reuters reports. But the agency also said it is essential for farmers to conserve resources (6/13).

FAO's "new approach calls for targeting mainly smallholder farmers in developing countries," according to a press release from the agency. "Helping low-income farm families in developing countries - some 2.5 billion people - economize on cost of production and build healthy agro-ecosystems will enable them to maximize yields and invest the savings in their health and education" (6/13).