Predictions of a global food crisis — that the world’s food production would not be able to keep pace with population growth — have a long history. In the 18th century the English cleric Thomas Robert Malthus hypothesized that gains in per capita resources would inevitably be outstripped by population until food supplies finally acted as a barrier to further growth.1
It’s surprising how much of the world’s population is still reliant on subsistence agriculture. But make no mistake, we would be thoroughly fucked without mineral fertilisers.
It’s surprising how much of the world’s population is still reliant on subsistence agriculture. But make no mistake, we would be thoroughly fucked without mineral fertilisers.