The Nature of Agricultural Systems: Food Security and Environmental Balance
Author(s)
Cassman, K. G.; Harwood, R. R.
Abstract
Global food security in the future will depend on growth in production in those areas of the world with favourable soils, adequate water resources, and high yields from wheat and rice cropping. Because the area devoted to rice and wheat cultivation in these favourable conditions has been stagnant or declining since the 1980s, with little prospect for reversing the trend, increases in grain production must come from increases in yield per hectare. To achieve the needed increases in yields of basic food grains, a broad range of constraints facing existing production systems must be removed. Additional inputs for crop production are needed, and new technologies, which have yet to be developed, are essential for managing crop nutrients, pests and diseases.
