Therefore, as more people become economically free to choose meat, milk and eggs, the demand for basic food stuffs accelerates. However, this need to produce more and better food does not come with the sudden appearance of more resources. It can only come from better products and practices based on better technology. If much of the world were content to stay hungry, and get hungrier, current practices would serve well enough. Of course, people everywhere are not content to leave satiety to the privileged few.
People prefer to improve their lives.
Dramatic changes are needed to take finite land and water resources and employ them to produce comparative abundance. Incremental improvements on past performance won't be nearly enough. Romantic ideologies about a past that never existed can entertain the satisfied, but can not nourish the world. Most lands and soils suitable for productive farming are already serving us in most world areas, and marginal lands that could be cleared and plowed include key habitat and ecosystem services needed for a healthy planet. It will depend in large part on the products of new technology.