That will be one of the key questions debated at Australasia's major science and agribusiness conference to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, last this month.

The fifth in the Horizons in Livestock Sciences conference series will be hosted by Australia's CSIRO Livestock industries and New Zealand's largest government research institute, AgResearch.

According to CLI chief Alan Bell, if the world is to maintain the same effective level of food supply in 2050 as there was in 2000, there will need to be a 50pc improvement in the world's agricultural productivity.

"While this doesn't seem like such a big ask, given that there has been a 400pc increase in food produced per hectare over the last 100 years, there are several complicating factors that will make this achievement much more challenging than it might appear," he said.

"One factor will be the stress that all human activity, including agriculture, puts on the environment.

"We must not only increase the volume of agricultural production to feed the world's human population but we must also do it in ways that substantially reduces the impact of agriculture on our environment.

"At the same time, if agriculture is to continue to make a significant contribution to Australian and New Zealand economies, we need to also produce food and textile products for which wealthy customers around the world are willing to pay premium prices."

Dr Bell says there is an argument that sustainably high returns can only be generated from products that are particularly valuable to customers, incorporate elements that are scarce and have attributes that are difficult for competitors to imitate.

"While some of our current agricultural products have these characteristics, many do not and there are calls for transition to producing higher-value foods and textiles than we do at present," he says.

* For full details about the conference go to: www.livestockhorizons.com.