With the publication of Save and Grow in 2011, FAO proposed a new paradigm of intensive crop production, one that is both highly productive and environmentally sustainable. FAO recognized that, over the past half-century, agriculture based on the intensive use of inputs has increased global food production and average per capita food consumption. In the process, however, it has depleted the natural resources of many agro-ecosystems, jeopardizing future productivity, and added to the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Moreover, it has not significantly reduced the number of chronically hungry, which is currently estimated at 870 million people.

The challenge is to place food production and consumption on a truly sustainable footing. Between now and 2050, the global population is projected to rise from about 7 billion to 9.2 billion, demanding – if current trends continue – a 60 percent increase in global food production. Given the diminishing area of unused land with good agricultural potential, meeting that demand will require ever higher crop yields. Those increases, in turn, need to be achieved in the face of heightened competition for land and water, rising fuel and fertilizer prices, and the impact of climate change.
The Save and Grow approach is fully consistent with the principles of climate-smart agriculture – it builds resilience to climate change and reduces greenhouse gas emissions through, for example, increased sequestration of carbon in soil.