LR Drill Set 11, Question 8
Farmer: According to United Nations estimates, almost 250(87 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AThe undeveloped land(26 more words not shown)
- BIn the countries(18 more words not shown)
- CIf farmers begin(26 more words not shown)
- DThe new agricultural(35 more words not shown)
- EOver the next(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why does the food have to be grown in the countries where the population is growing fastest?
We need almost 250 million hectares of new cropland worldwide, according to the estimate. The farmer then tells us those particular countries have only about 50 million hectares of undeveloped land available for conventional farming. That is a large shortfall locally. But what about land somewhere else?
A country could grow food and export it. So even if the fastest-growing countries can't produce everything they need, that doesn't establish a worldwide shortage of conventional farmland. Other possibilities might include increasing production on existing land or changing how developed land is used, though the argument asks us to accept the estimate that new cropland is needed.
The new techniques sound useful because they let farmers grow crops on land conventional methods can't use. The stronger claim is that farmers need to start using them. A method being useful doesn't show that the job can't be done another way.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to strengthen that necessity claim. My main concern is trade: give us reason to think farming elsewhere won't fill the gap. That would make the new techniques look more necessary, even without proving they solve every food problem.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Those countries' 50 million hectares make up the great majority of undeveloped land available for conventional farming worldwide. So the rest of the world doesn't have a vast untapped supply of such land waiting to fill the roughly 200-million-hectare shortfall.
This addresses the trade objection through the land supply. It doesn't say food can never be imported. It says expanding conventional farming elsewhere cannot plausibly supply the huge missing amount of new land. That makes techniques for using otherwise unsuitable land more important to meeting the stated need.
- B
This describes land unsuitable for conventional farming. Whether much of that land is already developed doesn't show that the supply of suitable conventional farmland elsewhere is too small. The answer doesn't close the alternative we identified. It might even raise a practical question about how much unsuitable land is available for the new techniques.
- C
This could show that using all the otherwise unsuitable land would produce enough food. But showing that an approach can solve the problem isn't the same as showing farmers need to use it. There could still be enough conventional farmland elsewhere. The argument's strong claim is about necessity, and C doesn't rule out alternatives.
- D
The new techniques also working on conventional farmland tells us they have additional uses. It doesn't tell us conventional methods will be inadequate for the projected need. The relevant advantage is being able to use land we otherwise couldn't farm, not merely also working where existing methods already work.
- E
Future techniques could provide another way to meet the need, rather than a reason to start using the particular techniques discussed now. In any event, predicting unspecified new discoveries doesn't establish that the current proposed methods are necessary. We need support for the claimed shortage of alternatives.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.