The World Field – Ideas for the Future

Will it be a burger made from insect protein or pills with all the essential nutrients? Or will many people simply have even less to eat, world hunger will increase massively and only a privileged section of industrialized countries will continue to eat as before?

Forecasts predict a world population of around 10 billion people by 2050. This is an increase of 3,000,000,000 people compared to 2010, or four times the population of Europe, which needs to be fed in addition to the current population.

Knowing that there are already enormous inequalities worldwide, that soil degradation is progressing rapidly, that environmental pollution is increasing, that the limits of arable land have already been reached and that the conversion of forests into agricultural land would only accelerate climate change and species loss, can make you feel quite queasy. Because what history and the present teach us - scarcity of resources leads to war, unrest and suffering.

In industrialized countries, security of supply will probably not be an issue for much longer, but dwindling prosperity and national security will be.

Ways out of the crisis have long been known, we just have to take them! The "Weltacker 2000^m2" project is also convinced of this. The idea was born in 2013 when the initiators were looking for a way to illustrate agricultural policy to the EU.

If you divide the 1.45 billion hectares of agricultural land used worldwide by the world's population, you get 2000 m² per person. All the plants for the food supply, clothing and biofuel must grow on this area. A further 3.55 billion hectares are available for grazing.

In theory, these areas are enough to feed everyone in a balanced way, even using organic farming, as scientists published in Nature communications 2017. But only if meat consumption and food waste are drastically reduced. This is because feed for livestock is also planted on the 2000 m², which means that more than a third of the global grain harvest ends up in feed troughs.

1.45 billion hectares - an almost unimaginable number. In comparison, 2000 m² are tangible and understandable. The "Weltacker 2000^m2" project makes use of this size to create an awareness of land and its agricultural use. The central element is a 2000 m² display showing how arable land is distributed around the world. For example, wheat is grown on 16 percent of the 1.45 billion hectares of agricultural land, which is why wheat also grows on 16 percent of the "World Field".

The first Weltacker was created in Berlin and has since found nine imitators, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Switzerland, France and Sweden. What they all have in common is the aim of addressing the burning challenges of global food production and encouraging visitors to reflect on their consumer behavior.

"We want people to understand that every meal, every cotton shirt and every kilometer of biofuel has its origins in the field. We also want to use our field to create a link between global structures and problems in agriculture and consumers," says Carla Giardini from the Berlin World Field Office.

In conversation with Bastiaan Frich, Vice President of the Urban Agriculture Network Basel and initiator of the Swiss World Field, it becomes clear how well this works. With palpable enthusiasm in his voice, he talks about a little girl who suddenly started eating vegetables again at home after visiting the Schweizer Weltacker because she now knew how they grow and where they come from. Even more impressive is the conversion of a lady whose favorite hobby was shopping and consumption as a substitute satisfaction. After visiting the Weltacker, she decided to convert part of her lawn into a kitchen garden and is now reinvesting the time she previously spent in shopping malls.

"It's great to see people change their consumption through direct experience, through skills that are motivated and encouraged on site," says Bastiaan Frich, full of joy.

We all realize that things can't go on as before, that we have to stop throwing away food on a grand scale, burning food for mobility. We need to send animals back to pasture instead of stuffing them with corn, grain or soy.

The step from knowledge to implementation can sometimes be difficult, but a visit to a Weltacker makes it easier. Perhaps you have one near you? Spend a few hours with inspiring visionaries and look forward to a completely new perception of food.

And then? Start a new world field in your city!

About the author

Dr. Isabell Riedl has been working as a sustainability officer and in communications at Werner Lampert GmbH since 2012. She studied ecology with a focus on nature and landscape conservation and tropical ecology at the University of Vienna. She wrote her dissertation on the importance of tree rows in agricultural areas for forest birds in Costa Rica. Throughout her life, she has been particularly committed to ecological sustainability. She is part of the editorial team of the online magazine "Nachhaltigkeit. Neu denken." (Rethinking Sustainability).