Improving agricultural productivity has been the world’s primary defense against a recurring Malthusian crisis— where needs of a growing population outstrip the ability of humankind to supply food. Over the last half-century, world population doubled while food supply tripled, even as land...

The effects of adverse economic conditions in U.S. agriculture upon the structure of farming have been given wide publicity. At the same time but less widely noted, a quiet revolution has taken hold of the ancillary industries supporting agriculture as they struggle to adapt to the changed...