Download or read book The World Food Situation and Prospects to 1985 written by United States. Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Analysis of the past 2 decades of food production, consumption and trade provides the basis for determining the needs and potential of the next decade. World agriculture has changed dramatically ; up to 1972, costs were low and production high in producing countries. In the past year, world production declined, and soon after the developing countries increased grain imports, thus substantislly depleting reserves. World is now dependent on annual production. Prices are high due to increased energy costs, reduced supplies, production problems, political and economic considerations and the sporadic nature of the demand for imports. Other problems include planned economies in which incentives no longer exist to produce food; changing of developed countries to resume high production; inability of poorer countries to meet rising costs; basic imbalance in supply and demand; and trade difficulities. there are sufficient resources toincrease world food production, but solving the world food problem and alleviating widespread hunger and malnutrition are far more dependent on policy decisions.