Adapting and improving crops: the endless task

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Abstract
The Malthusian prognosis has been undermined by an exponential increase in world food supply since 1960, even in the absence of any extension of the arable area. The requisite increases in yield of the cereal staples have come partly from agronomic intensification, especially of nitrogenous fertilizer use made possible by the dwarfing of wheat and rice, in turn made feasible by herbicide development. Cereal dwarfing also contributed to a marked rise in harvest index and yield potential.