Read the following passage carefully and answer the items that follow the passage. Your answers to these items should be based solely on the passage. Can agricultural productivity meet human needs in the long run? Since twentieth century advances, given increasing costs, do not seem sustainable, further increases in output will not be achieved easily. Global population growth, while showing signs of slowing down, has

Step-by-step solution

According to the passage, the author states, "Since twentieth century advances, given increasing costs, do not seem sustainable, further increases in output will not be achieved easily." This explicitly links the lack of sustainability of twentieth-century agricultural advances to the increasing costs associated with them. Therefore, the correct reason is the increased cost of agricultural production. Answer: Due to the increased cost of agricultural production