Science writer Julian Cribb says we have had the age of rock and roll and the age of the internet, and the next big thing will be the 'age of food'.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 18 seconds 4 m 18 s Science writer Juilan Cribb on future food sources ( Sally Bryant ) Download 7.9 MB

In recent years Australian farmers have been getting conflicted messages about their future.

They have been told they can look forward to feeding the growing population of South-East Asia, they have been warned the changing climate will mean they will have adapt or disappear, and they are under increasing pressure to justify their use of land and water.

Farmers and land carers gathered in Narromine yesterday to hear what perspective Mr Cribb could add to the myriad messages about what the future of agriculture and food production might look like.

Mr Cribb told his audience the future was exciting, but it could be daunting as well.

"There's some pretty scary stuff coming down," he said.

"We need to double the food supply over the next 50 years, but everything we need to do that is running out.

"We are running out of soil, we are running out of water, we are running out of fertiliser."

Mr Cribb said he believed there needed to be a quantum shift in the way policy makers thought to ensure the security of food supplies.

"I think that at some point in the next 20 or 30 years we are going to see a very big city, a city with a population about the same as the whole of Australia, we're going to see them starve.

"The food supply is totally dependent on oil and if you have a war or an oil crisis, then you could have a massive city unable to get food within three or four days.

"So you will see on your smart phone people starving before your very eyes."