No activity affects more of the earth's surface than farming. It shapes a third of the planet's land
area, not counting Antarctica, and the proportion is rising. World food output per head has risen
by 4 per cent between the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of increases in yields from land
already in cultivation, but also because more land has been brought under the plough. Higher
yields have been achieved by increased irrigation, better crop breeding, and a doubling in the
use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in the 1970s and 1980s.