Too Many People Part IV

“[Overpopulation], combined with rising individual consumption, is pushing our…planet beyond its natural limits. Since 1984, the growth in grain harvest has fallen behind that of population, so per-person output has dropped by 7% (0.5% per year) according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is due to population growth, the lack of new land, fresh water for irrigation, and to slower growth in fertilizer use because of diminishing returns to this input.

Since mid-century, grain area—which serves as a proxy for cropland in general—has increased by 19%, but global population has grown by 132%. Population growth can degrade farmland, reducing its productivity or even eliminating it from production through development or destruction for infrastructure. As grain area falls, more and more nations risk losing the capacity to feed them. The United States already imports more food than it exports. This is no longer the land of plenty and agricultural surpluses."