Abstract
The world’s population has doubled since 1960. Currently, the developing world accounts for about 95% of the population growth with Africa as the world’s fastest growing continent. The growing population has many implications but most of all it requires an increase in agricultural production to meet food demand. Soil science has a long tradition of considering the growth in food production in relation to the increasing human population. This paper reviews some of the major developments in these subjects from a soil scientist’s perspective. It starts with the work of Thomas Malthus and various subsequent studies relating population growth and food production. Population growth and projections up to the year 2050 are discussed. The main soil studies since the 1920s are reviewed with a focus on those conducted in the Dutch East Indies and the UK. The productivity of soil science measured by the number of publications and soil scientists has kept pace with the increasing population. Although the number of undernourished people in the world is on the decline, it is concluded that continued efforts from soil scientists remains needed particularly now the focus of attention in the USA and Western Europe moves from population growth per se to population ageing and obesity.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anon. 1997. Environmental scare – Plenty of gloom. The Economist December 20: 19–21.
Anon. 1999. Unshapely world, too old or too young. The Economist September 25: 60.
Bennett H.H. 1939. Soil Conservation. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc: New York & London.
Bettany G.T. 1890. Introduction. In: Malthus T.R. by An essay on the principle of population or a view of its past and present effects on human happiness with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal of mitigation of the evils which its occasions (6th and last edition). Ward, Lock and Co.: London, New York, and Melbourne.
Boserup E. 1965. The conditions of agricultural growth. The economics of agrarian change under population pressure. Aldine Publishing Company: New York.
Bouma J. 2001. The new role of soil science in a network society. Soil Science 166: 874–879.
Bouma J., Batjes N.H. and Groot J.J.R. 1998. Exploring land quality effects on world food supply. Geoderma 86: 43–59.
Bouma J. and Hartemink A.E. 2002. Soil science and society in the Dutch context. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 50: 133–140.
Bradfield R. 1960. Opportunities for soil scientists in freeing the world from hunger. In 7th International Congress of Soil Science, Madison, Wisconsin, 1960. pp. 1–10.
Buringh P. 1982. Potentials of world soils for agricultural production. In 12th International Congress of Soil Science, New Delhi, 1982. pp. 33–41.
Buringh P., van Heemst H.D.J. and Staring G.J. 1975. Computation of the absolute maximum food production of the world. Agricultural University, Department of Tropical Soil Science: Wageningen.
Dudal R. 1982. Land degradation in a world perspective. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 37: 245–249.
Edelman C.H. 1951. De onuitputtelijke natuur. Economische-Statistische Berichten, 12 Sept., 1–4.
Ehrlich P. 1968. The population bomb. Ballantine Book Inc.: New York.
Eswaran H., Beinroth F.H. and Reich P. 1999. Global land resources and population-supporting capacity. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 14: 129–136.
FAO 2000. Agriculture: Towards 2015/30, Rome.
Fischer G. and Heilig G.K. 1997. Population momentum and the demand on land and water resources. In: Greenland D.J., Gregory P.J. and Nye P.H. (Eds) Land resources: on the edge of the Malthusian precipice? pp. 869–889. The Royal Society: London.
Gallopin G.C. and Raskin P. 1998. Windows on the future – Global Scenarios and sustainability. Environment 40: 7–11.
Greenland D.J. 1991. The contributions of soil science to society – past, present, and future. Soil Science 151: 19–23.
Greenland D.J. 1994. Soil science and sustainable land management. In: Syers J.K. and Rimmer D.L. (Eds) Soil science and sustainable land management in the tropics. pp. 1–5. CAB International: Wallingford.
Greenland D.J., Gregory P.J. and Nye P.H. 1997. Introduction and conclusions. In: Greenland D.J., Gregory P.J. and Nye P.H. (Eds). Land resources: on the edge of the Malthusian precipice? pp. 861–867. The Royal Society: London.
Greenwood D.J. 1993. The changing scene of British soil science. Journal of Soil Science 44: 191–207.
Hall A.D. 1936. The improvement of native agriculture in relation to population and public health. Oxford University Press: London.
Harris J.M. and Kennedy S. 1999. Carrying capacity in agriculture: global and regional issues. Ecological Economics 29: 443–461.
Hartemink A.E. 1999. Publish or perish (2) How much we write. Bulletin of the International Union of Soil Sciences 96: 16–23.
Hartemink A.E. 2003. Soil fertility decline in the tropics – with case studies on plantations. ISRIC-CABI Publishing: Wallingford.
Hartemink A.E. 2002a. Publishing in soil science – Historical developments and current trends. International Union of Soil Sciences, Vienna. p. 196.
Hartemink A.E. 2002b. Soil science in tropical and temperate regions – Some differences and similarities. Advances in Agronomy 77: 269–292.
Heuvelink G.B.M. and Webster R. 2001. Modelling soil variation: past, present, and future. Geoderma 100: 269–301.
Howard A. 1940. An agricultural testament. Oxford University Press: New York and London.
Huber P. 1999. Hard green. Saving the environment from the environmentalist. A conservative manifesto. Basic Books: New York.
Insam H. 2001. Developments in soil microbiology since the mid 1960s. Geoderma 100: 389–402.
Jacks G.V. and Whyte R.O. 1939. The rape of the earth – A world survey of soil erosion. Faber and Faber Ltd: London.
Jensen N.F. 1978. Limits to growth in world food production. Science 201: 317–320.
Kellogg C.E. 1974. Soil genesis, classification, and cartography: 1924–1974. Geoderma 12: 347–362.
Kendall H.W. and Pimentel D. 1994. Constraints on the expansion of the global food supply. Ambio 23: 198–205.
Lal R. 2001. Managing world soils for food security and environmental quality. Advances in Agronomy 74: 155–192.
Latham J.R. 2000. There’s enough food for everyone, but the poor can’t afford to buy it. Nature 404: 222.
Lomborg B. 2001. The skeptical environmentalist: Measuring the real state of the world. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Lutz W., Sanderson W. and Scherbov S. 1997. Doubling of world population unlikely. Nature 387: 803–805.
Malthus T.R 1826. An essay on the principle of population or a view of its past and present effects on human happiness with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal of mitigation of the evils which its occasions. Ward, Lock and Co.: London, New York, and Melbourne.
McCalla A.F. 1999. The challenge of food security in the 21st century. TAA Newsletter 19: 12–19.
Meadows D.H., Meadows D.L., Randers J. and Behrens W.W. 1972. Limits to growth. A report for the club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. Universe Books: New York.
Mermut A.R. and Eswaran H. 1997. Opportunities for soil science in a milieu of reduced funds. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 77: 1–7.
Mermut A.R. and Eswaran H. 2001. Some major developments in soil science since the mid-1960s. Geoderma 100: 403–426.
Mohr E.C.J. 1947. De wereldvoedselproductie en de bodem. Landbouwkundig Tijdschrift 59: 1–8.
Nye P.H. and Greenland D.J. 1960. The soil under shifting cultivation. Commonwealth Bureau of Soils: Harpenden.
Osborn F. 1948. Our plundered planet. Little, Brown and Company: Boston.
Penck A. 1928. Das Hauptproblem der physischen Anthropogeographie. In First International Congress of Soil Science, Washington DC, 1928. pp 98–116.
Pendleton R.L. 1954. The place of tropical soils in feeding the world. Ceiba 15: 201–222.
Penning de Vries F.W.T., Rabbinge R. and Groot J.J.R. 1997. Potential and attainable food production and food security in different regions. In: Greenland D.J., Gregory P.J. and Nye P.H. (Eds). Land resources: on the edge of the Malthusian precipice? pp 917–928. The Royal Society: London.
Pinstrup-Andersen P. 1998. Food security and sustainable use of natural resources. Ecological Economics 26: 1–10.
Raats P.A.C. 2001. Developments in soil-water physics since the mid 1960s. Geoderma 100: 355–387.
Ross C. 1999. Can we feed the world in 2020? New Zealand Soil News 47: 137–141.
Russell D.A. and Williams G.G. 1977. History of chemical fertilizer development. Soil Science Society of America Journal 41: 260–265.
Russell E.J. 1954. World population and world food supplies. George Allen & Unwin Ltd: London.
Seidl I. and Tisdell C.A. 1999. Carrying capacity reconsidered: from Malthus’ population theory to cultural carrying capacity. Ecological Economics 31: 395–408.
Short R. 1998. An essay on the principle of population, by T.R. Malthus. Nature 395: 456–456.
Sinclair T.R. and Cassman K.G. 1999. Green revolution still too green. Nature 398, 556.
Smil V 1999 How many billions to go? Nature 401: 429.
Sparks D.L. 2001. Elucidating the fundamental chemistry of soils: past and recent achievements and future frontiers. Geoderma 100: 303–319.
Stamp L.D. 1960. Our developing world. Faber and Faber: London.
Tiffen M., Mortimore M. and Gichuki F. 1994. More people, less erosion. Environmental recovery in Kenya. John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester.
Tinker P.B. 1985. Soil science in a changing world. Journal of Soil Science 36: 1–8.
Tuljapurkar S. 1997. Demography – Taking the measure of uncertainty. Nature 387: 760–761.
van Baren F.A. 1960. Soils in relation to population in tropical regions. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 51: 230–234.
van Baren J.H.V., Hartemink A.E. and Tinker P.B. 2000. 75 Years The International Society of Soil Science. Geoderma 96: 1–18.
White J.T. 1941. Bodemvruchtbaarheid en landsbelang. Archipel Drukkerij, Buitenzorg.
Yaalon D.H and Berkowicz S. 1997. History of soil science – International perspectives. Catena Verlag, Reiskirchen. 438 p.
Young A. 1999. Is there really spare land? A critique of estimates of available cultivable land in developing countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability 1: 3–18.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hartemink, A.E. (2007). Soil science, population growth and food production: some historical developments. In: Bationo, A., Waswa, B., Kihara, J., Kimetu, J. (eds) Advances in Integrated Soil Fertility Management in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5760-1_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5760-1_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5759-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5760-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)