A common question asked among agrifood professionals, whether while speaking at industry events or within their own operations is, “How are we going to feed a growing world population?”
I’m not entirely sure how long people have been asking this question, but I know it was asked at least as long ago as 1992, on the popular television series, “Coach.” Mind you, the context was a little different, but it is still relatable.
Several evenings ago, while watching a rerun of the show on Antenna TV, my favorite character from the show, Luther Van Dam, enters head coach Hayden Fox’s office, and something is clearly troubling the excitable, paranoid and oft-buffoonish assistant football coach portrayed by the late Jerry Van Dyke.
Luther remarked about how he just returned from the weight room, and he was amazed at the size of their football team’s new recruits, who were much larger in size than the men on the coaching staff.
“I’m just afraid we’re outgrowing the planet. Look at the facts: In my day, I was considered big, and Hayden, in your day you were a big guy, and Dauber (a younger, even larger assistant coach), when you played for us you were the biggest guy we had,” Luther said.
“I mean, if people keep getting bigger, then you know, houses are going to get bigger, which means towns are going to get bigger! I mean, it just doesn’t stop! And when we’re going to have to feed these giants, where are we going to get the food? We’re not going to get the food because there’s not going to be land to grow food on … just huge people running around looking for something to eat!”
His imagined scenario gets absurd from there, and Coach Fox appeared exhausted at what he just heard and excused himself from the room to tend to other matters. That prompted Luther to make the comment, “Evidently, you’re not as concerned about this as I am.”
If you are familiar with the Luther Van Dam character, even if you never saw that episode, you can imagine the passion with which he expressed his worries.
While Luther’s idea of feeding a growing population has more to do with the size of the people, rather than the number of people, the comical segment does carry with it a serious message. He was right in that towns are getting larger and there some day won’t likely be as much available land earlier to grow food, although it has little to do with the physical stature of a person or the appetites of larger people.
If Van Dyke were living today and I had a chance to talk to him, I’d tell him how much I loved his character and particularly this segment, and how it is in a way still relatable.
The industry could use a guy like Luther Van Dam who is so passionate about the challenges of feeding a growing world.
