Changing diets : Urbanization and the nutrition transition , IFPRI

65 yield achieved on the same piece of land in 2014 . Today , farmers represent a mere 1.4 % of the US population , and the average size of farms has grown dramatically . The ratio of people in cities to the farmers that feed them is already at a huge disparity and , as that relationship becomes more and more imbalanced , the strain put upon the agricultural industry has the potential to spell disaster for a global food supply – to say nothing of biodiversity , quality of diet and cultural connections to cuisine itself .

Massive demand for year-round , mass produced , cheap produce today is already causing problems , from the incipient extinction of the honey bee to the wildfires and droughts exacerbated by overfarming water-wasteful crops like almonds and avocados . One of the most prominent issues , however , is the fact that as more people move into cities , the supply chains required to feed these swelling urban populations get longer and less sustainable . Food grown and produced to last for long periods of time contains more

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