To begin with, the world food supply is going to become steadily tighter over the next thirty years — even here in the United States. By 2001, the population of the United States will be at least two hundred fifty million and possibly two hundred seventy million, and the nation will find it difficult to expand food production to fill the additional mouths. This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high- energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.
首先，今后的30年内，世界的食品供应日益紧张，甚至美国这里也不例外。到2001年美国人口将至少达到2亿5千万，也可能是2亿7千万。那时，美国将很难扩大食品生产来满足人口增长的需要。这种困境将是确定无疑的，因为能源的匮乏使农业无法以高能消费这种美国耕作方式继续下去了，而这种耕作方式可以投入少数农民就获得高产。