The world may be nearing the upper limits of agricultural production, raising questions about how we will feed a more crowded planet. US researchers say yields of about 30 per cent of crops, including rice and wheat, have decreased abruptly or have plateaued in recent years. Most future projections that would ensure global food security are typically based upon a constant increase in yield. However, this new research reported in Nature Communications , suggests this may not be possible. Past trends have been dominated by the rapid adoption of new technologies which allowed for an increase in crop production. Kenneth Cassman and colleagues at the University of Nebraska characterise past yield trends for cereal, oil, sugar, fibre, pulses, tuber, root crops, rice, wheat and maize, as evidence against a projected scenario of crop yield increase. Their data suggest the rate of yield gain has recently decreased or stopped for […]