Man and his environment: food (Man and his environment series)

Thomas Malthus was probably the first to detect worldwide population pressure and to identify world population growth as a problem. When he published his essay on The Principle of Population in 1798, he defined the population problem primarily in terms of food supplies and the threat of famine. For almost 200 years men have perceived the population-food problem in these terms, asking "Can we produce enough food to feed anticipated human numbers?". In man's quest for more and more food to meet mounting needs in modern times, he has rapidly extended and intensified agricultural intervention in the earth's ecosystem. Food production has kept pace with population growth, but with disturbing ecological consequences. The relevant question is not longer "Can we produce enough food?" but "What are the environmental consequences of attempting to do so?"