In Sydney, Australia a few weeks ago the Hudson Institute’s Dennis Avery, the Australia Conservation Foundation’s Jim Downer and World Wildlife Fund/Australia’s Ray Nias debated the best policies to ensure that the world is able to feed a projected 9 to 12 billion people in 2050 while at the same time protecting wildlife. All three more or less agreed that a key to preserving wildlife will be increasing crops yields to avoid converting lots more land to agricultural purposes.
The three disagreed on the best route to achieve that, with Avery favoring free trade and high yield farming, Downer for organic cropping methods and integrated pest management, and Nias for land use planning and more organic solutions.
The Heartland Institute has a brief article on the debate at its web site.