ABSTRACT
Scherr (1999) observes that continued degradation of soil resources at present rates will result in an increase in world food prices from 17% to 30% during the present decade. This estimate is based on the assumption that global population will increase about 33% between 1995 and 2020. While global agricultural supplies may not become a serious problem to the world’s population owing to increased food and fiber production in countries not seriously affected by soil degradation, poor people living and operating subsistence farms in lesser-scale societies will suffer significantly because they will be unable to pay inflated prices for essential commodities.
