Hundreds of millions of people are still underfed, although there is more than enough food to go round.
Fertilisers, pesticides, high-yielding seeds and mechanisation have boosted crop yields. Meat and fish production has quadrupled.
But doom-laden statistics on soil erosion, declining fish stocks, deforestation, nitrate pollution and genetic diversity are raising fears for the future.
And we are still way off course on the UNís target of halving hunger by 2015.
How can we squeeze more from the degraded soil and depleted seas to feed the yet-to-be-born millions?
How can we provide long-term food security for those without the resources to buy or grow their own food? The race against population growth continues.