Energy and the green revolution

What does physics have to do with food? The answer is far more important today than it was even 50 years ago. A healthy diet has a daily energy content of 2,000 Calories, or 8.4 million joules. This energy must come from food, and the food required to feed Earth's human population has increased dramatically. Consider that there were about 1 billion people on Earth in 1800. By 1927 the population had doubled to 2 billion. By 1960 there were 3 billion people. By 1974 there were 4 billion, and by 2012 the world population was 7 billion and growing. Yet the amount of land and sunlight available for farming is the same today as it was 200 years ago.
Since 1950 the world population has almost tripled. Yet, according to the US Geological Survey, the amount of land and water devoted to growing food has decreased due to urbanization and soil degradation. How then did we feed so many more people with less farmland? The answer is a widespread change from traditional methods of farming to more energy-intensive, high-yield agriculture. This largely took place between 1950 and 2000, a period that has been dubbed the “green revolution.”
Changes in agricultural technology over the past century
Farming became highly mechanized with tractors, cultivators, and other specialized machines. Irrigation use was drastically increased. Soil enhancement through the use of nitrates and other fertilizers became standard practice, as did pest control though herbicides and insecticides. As a result, by 2000 one average acre of farmland produced more than six times as much food as the same acre in 1900. In short, farming became a high-technology enterprise.
Which of the following are reasons why total agricultural production has increased over the last 100 years?
  1. More mechanized farm equipment
  2. Better irrigation techniques
  3. Better methods to deal with insects
  4. All of the above
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