PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 7
Expert: Some people claim that, since food production(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AThe world's food(5 more words not shown)
- BFood resources from(8 more words not shown)
- CThe world's population(10 more words not shown)
- DPeriodic regional food(8 more words not shown)
- EPopulation will continue(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the population levels off too?
Food production growing faster than population is encouraging, but it doesn't settle every concern about feeding people. Food might not reach the people who need it, and the past growth pattern might not continue. The expert focuses on that second concern: production has a ceiling.
What we’re looking for
I can accept the stated ceiling and still question the prediction of inevitable shortages. If population stops growing before demand exceeds what farms can produce, reaching a production limit needn't be a disaster. To strengthen the argument, I'd want continued population growth after food production can no longer increase. If the population kept growing indefinitely while food production stayed capped, eventually supply couldn't keep up.
Working the answers
- A
Renewable doesn't mean unlimited production. A resource can replenish while still supporting only a certain amount of food at a time. That is compatible with the ceiling we've already been given, but it doesn't tell us whether population will grow beyond what the food supply can support.
- B
Fully using the oceans' food resources would be another part of reaching production limits. It doesn't answer the missing question about demand. Perhaps the world's population could be fed even after that capacity was fully used. We still need a reason the number of people would outgrow the available food.
- C
A stable population points toward the alternative we raised, rather than supporting inevitable shortages. Recent stability doesn't guarantee population will remain stable forever, but it gives no support for the continued growth needed to put pressure on a capped supply.
- D
Brief shortages in particular regions in the past don't establish inevitable widespread shortages in the future. A local distribution failure, for example, could cause a regional shortage without the whole world reaching its production limit. D doesn't fill the gap between the global food ceiling and future demand.
- ECorrect
Population will still grow when production has reached its maximum. That puts increasing demand against a supply that can no longer increase, supporting the expert's concern. It is weaker than my prediction of growth continuing indefinitely: brief growth alone doesn't tell us exactly when demand would exceed any remaining surplus. But it strengthens the reasoning by showing that population won't simply stop growing when food production stops.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.