This food crisis has been decades in the making, with demand overtaking the world's farms' flagging capacity. Since the collapse of international communism, we have witnessed an astonishing spread of prosperity and consumption to once destitute and deprived corners of the world.
So, was Thomas Malthus right that population will outrun food supply capacity? Unlikely, so long as we let human ingenuity, guided by markets, go to work. When price signals are allowed to operate, a natural resource's scarcity encourages people to use it more efficiently, find more of it and invent substitutes.
Here are some things that can be done to empower developing-country farmers:
- Remove trade barriers...
- Build market infrastructure...
- Promote technological innovation...
- Avoid counterproductive policies...
Tight food markets will be with us for years to come. Spreading prosperity and growing population will tax the world's finite natural resources. Yet, "human beings," Mr. Simon explained, "are not just mouths to feed, but are productive and inventive minds that help find creative solutions to man's problems, thus leaving us better off over the long run."
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