The Resources Available for Agriculture

Abstract

The physical resources of earth fire and water although they are very large are ultimately fixed. However the biological and social resources are far from being pressed to the limit. According to Thomas Malthus the human population will always increase until it reaches the limit set by the food supply. This limit is determined by the physical resources available for agriculture. He recognized that farm production increases with improved technology; however the rates of increase would always be lower than the potential capacity of human beings to multiply. This paper considers the inverse of Malthuss proposition--whether the effective utilization of resources for food production can be made to increase the limits set by human population size. A more important inquiry is whether rates of growth of agricultural production can be made to exceed rates of population growth. It is noted that the amount of cultivated land per person could be increased in every part of the world by the year 2000. However large capital investments would be needed for a major increase in crop yield in favorable regions. One way to accomplish this is to increase scientific knowledge of plant and animal biology and of the environment and to transform scientific advances into practical knowledge farmers can use. In addition many resources other than arable land and water must be utilized to increase world food production.