ThomasMalthuspublishedhis"EssayonthePrincipleofPopulation"almost200yearsago.Eversincethen,forecastershavebeingwarningthatworldwidefaminewasS1_____justaroundthenextcorner.Thefast-growingpopulation'sdemandforfood,theywarned,wouldsoonexceedtheirS2_____supply,leadingtowidespreadfoodshortagesandstarvation.Butinreality,theworld'stotalgrainharvesthasrisensteadilyovertheyears.ExceptforrelativeisolatedtroubleS3_____spotslikepresent-daySomalia,andoccasionalyearsofgoodharvests,theworld'sfoodcrisishasremainedjustS4_____aroundthecorner.Mostexpertsbelievethiscancontinueevenasifthepopulationdoublesbythemid-21stcentury,S5_____althoughfeedingI0billionpeoplewillnotbeeasyforpolitics,economicandenvironmentalreasons.OptimistsS6_____pointtoconcreteexamplesofcontinuedimprovementsinyield.InAfrica,byinstance,improvedseed,moreS7_____fertilizerandadvancedgrowingpracticeshavemorethandoublecornandwheatyieldsinanexperiment.Elsewhere,S8_____riceexpertsinthePhilippinesareproducingaplantwithfewS9_____stemsandmoreseeds.Thereisnoguaranteethatplantbreederscancontinuetodevelopnew,higher-yieldingcrop,butmostresearchersseetheirsuccesstodateasreasonS10_____forhope.