ThomasMalthuspublishedhis"EssayonthePrinciple
ofPopulation"almost200yearsago.Eversincethen,
forecastershavebeingwarningthatworldwidefaminewasS1_____
justaroundthenextcorner.Thefast-growingpopulation's
demandforfood,theywarned,wouldsoonexceedtheirS2_____
supply,leadingtowidespreadfoodshortagesandstarvation.
Butinreality,theworld'stotalgrainharvesthasrisen
steadilyovertheyears.ExceptforrelativeisolatedtroubleS3_____
spotslikepresent-daySomalia,andoccasionalyearsof
goodharvests,theworld'sfoodcrisishasremainedjustS4_____
aroundthecorner.Mostexpertsbelievethiscancontinue
evenasifthepopulationdoublesbythemid-21stcentury,S5_____
althoughfeedingI0billionpeoplewillnotbeeasyfor
politics,economicandenvironmentalreasons.OptimistsS6_____
pointtoconcreteexamplesofcontinuedimprovements
inyield.InAfrica,byinstance,improvedseed,moreS7_____
fertilizerandadvancedgrowingpracticeshavemorethan
doublecornandwheatyieldsinanexperiment.Elsewhere,S8_____
riceexpertsinthePhilippinesareproducingaplantwithfewS9_____
stemsandmoreseeds.Thereisnoguaranteethatplant
breederscancontinuetodevelopnew,higher-yieldingcrop,
butmostresearchersseetheirsuccesstodateasreasonS10_____