Synopsis: At the current rate of increase, the world’s population is likely to reach ten billion by the middle of the twenty-first century. What will be the challenges posed by feeding this population and how can they be addressed? Written to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Malthus’ seminal Essay on the Principle of Population, this fascinating book looks at the intimate links between population growth and agricultural innovation over the past 10,000 years, illustrating how the evolution of agriculture has both shaped and been shaped by the course of world population growth. This historical context serves to illuminate our present position and to aid understanding of possible future paths to food security for the planet. This volume is a unique and accessible account that will be of interest to a wide audience concerned with global population, food supply, agricultural development, environmental degradation and resource depletion.
- Unique exploration of the interdependence between human population growth and agricultural innovation over the last 10,000 years
- Uses the past to illuminate the potential problems caused by a doubling of the human population within the next 50 years
- Global in scope – provides examples from many countries and cultures, from prehistory to present day
Published: November 1998 | ISBN: 9780521646857
Author’s mini-bio: Lloyd Evans was at CSIRO for almost 50 years. His first achievement was to plan and oversee construction of the Ceres Phytotron, an artificially controlled environment facility, which in 2013 celebrated 50 years of helping unravel the influence of environment on plant and crop growth and development. His publications culminated in a delightful celebration of the history of innovation in agriculture, ‘Feeding the ten billion’ (Evans 1998), published on the 200th anniversary of the gloomy essay of Thomas Malthus on world population and food supply. – Adapted from ACIAR Acknowledgements
“This is an excellent book written by a distinguished scientist who worked for many years for CSIRO. He was a Rhodes Scholar. It gives an excellent view of the development of world agriculture and in fact civilisation as we know it. It was through agriculture that humans could settle and then create wealth and specialisation of labour etc. etc.” – From 10 Great Books on Agriculture
[Image Credit: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/life-sciences/natural-resource-management-agriculture-horticulture-and/feeding-ten-billion-plants-and-population-growth ]