ABSTRACT
This chapter considers several sets of factors which will condition the world’s food prospects in the period to 2020. Starting at the ‘environmental’ end of the spectrum, and working towards the more ‘social’ end, the subjects which are covered include global atmospheric changes, soil and water resources, farm inputs, crops, biotechnology and research, physical and human resources, and the nature of prevailing institutional structures. There is also discussion of possible trends in world food prices. Obviously, all these variables overlap and interrelate. And, equally obviously, they can be considered only in outline here.
