Gov. Tony Evers’ “Year of Clean Drinking Water” is now half over. The Legislature has appointed a Water Quality Task Force, but does it have solutions? Wisconsin’s toughest water quality challenges are tied to food and land use. The problems run deep and touch everyone.

In Wisconsin, we consume 30 million pounds of food every day. Our cities have a week’s supply of food on hand. Like a patient connected to a feeding tube, we depend on a vast global food system for life support. Food production consumes more land and water than any other human activity.

In just one lifetime, world population has nearly quadrupled. When today’s children reach middle age, we will need 50% more food; yet we have 50% less farmland per capita than we did in 1960. World demand will put intense pressure on resources everywhere, including Wisconsin. Native prairies, rainforests, wetlands, fisheries, rivers and groundwater are disappearing into the maw.

Meanwhile, the U.S. throws a third of its food supply into landfills, and uses the world’s best farmland to feed its fuel-guzzling cars. One-third of the entire U.S. corn crop goes to produce ethanol motor fuel, while only 10% goes directly to human food (mainly oils and sweeteners). The rest feeds livestock.