Skip to main content

Facing the challenge of food scarcity: Can we raise grain yields fast enough?

  • Chapter
Plant Nutrition for Sustainable Food Production and Environment

Part of the book series: Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences ((DPSS,volume 78))

Abstract

After a half-century of global surpluses of wheat, rice, corn, and other grains, it is easy to be complacent about the food prospect for the twenty-first century. We have come to take for granted the supply of grain that provides half of humanity’s food energy when consumed directly and a good portion of the remainder when consumed indirectly in the form of livestock products.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Sleeted references

  1. Grain data from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Production, Supply, and Distribution, electronic database, Washington DC, updated February 1997; USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Grain: World Agricultural Production (Washington, DC: April 1997); 1950–59 grain data from USDA, “World Grain Database,” unpublished printout, Washington, DC, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kazakstan data from FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture 1995, FAO Agricultural Series No. 28 (Rome 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Brazil’s grain data from USDA, FAS, Grain: World Markets and Trade, (Washington, DC: April 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  4. U. S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base, Suitland, MD, 15 May 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  5. 800 million figure from World Bank, Food Security for the World, statement prepared for the World Food Summit by the World Bank, 12 November 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Oceanic fish catch from U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Yearbook of Fishiery Statistics: Catches and Landings (Rome: 1967–91).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lester R. Brown, Increasing World Food Output: Problems and Prospects, Foreign Agriculture Economic Report No. 25 (Washington, DC: USDA, ERS, April 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lester R. Brown, Seeds of Change (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mary Cabrera, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines letter to Worldwatch, 26 February 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Donald O. Mitchell and Merlinda D. Ingco, International Economics Department, The World Food Outlook (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fredrick W. Crook and Hunter Colby, The Future of China’s Grain Market, USDA, ERS, Agriculture Information bulletin Number 730, October 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gurdev S. Khush, “Modern Varieties-Their Real Contribution to Food Supply and Equity” Geo Journal, March 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Information on idled cropland from K. F. Isherwood and K. G. Soh, “Short Term Prospects for World Agriculture and Fertilizer Use,” presented at 21st Enlarged Council Meetong, International Fertilizer Industry Association, Paris, 15–17 November 1995, and from USDA, FAS, World Agricultural Production (Washington, DC: October 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Thomas R. Sinclair, “Limits to Crop Yield?” in Physiology and Determination of Crop Yield, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Brown, L.R. (1997). Facing the challenge of food scarcity: Can we raise grain yields fast enough?. In: Ando, T., Fujita, K., Mae, T., Matsumoto, H., Mori, S., Sekiya, J. (eds) Plant Nutrition for Sustainable Food Production and Environment. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 78. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0047-9_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0047-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6510-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-0047-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics