ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) – With projections putting the planet’s population at 9 billion by 2050, the question of how to feed them is taking on ever-greater importance.

But at the “Faith, Food & the Environment” symposium Nov. 5-7 in St. Paul, held at the University of St. Thomas and sponsored by more than a dozen Catholic and agricultural organizations, some speakers suggested the question may need to be asked differently.

“It’s the wrong question,” shared Fred Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center of Iowa State University, giving people “a moral justification to continue doing more of what they’ve been doing.”

Kirschenmann said enough food is being grown today to feed 10 billion people, yet 1 billion people remain chronically hungry.

“It’s a problem of poverty, it’s a problem of entitlement, it’s a problem of inequality,” he said. “It’s also a problem of waste.” Estimates put the amount of waste at 40 percent of all food grown.