Lester R. Brown

Lester R. Brown is the president of the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization in Washington, D.C. In the following viewpoint, Brown argues that food supplies are shrinking worldwide. According to Brown, this decrease in food supplies has been caused chiefly by the fact that grain production has increased only 3 percent since 1990, while world grain stocks have dropped to their lowest level ever. Also contributing to scarcer food supplies are population growth, extreme weather conditions, land and water scarcity, soil erosion, and industrialization, Brown maintains.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. By how much does human population increase annually, according to Brown?
2. According to the author, what types of food are grown on irrigated land?
3. According to Brown, what are the three reserves that the world can draw upon in the event of poor...