The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization

by Peter Zeihan

Three broad developments broke the wheel of wheat-induced conquering. First, the industrial era introduced humanity to synthetic agricultural inputs, most importantly fertilizers, but also pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Lands already used for agriculture doubled their output in short order, but subpar lands that had been passed over throughout history could experience quadrupling (or more) of their preindustrial output levels. Farm fields crept across the Earth. In the new technological era, the Geography of Success changed. Lands that had once lain fallow became breadbaskets. Cool, wet, low-sun northern Germany suddenly became a food producer nearly on par with northern France, while the ability to grow crops in Siberia made life in Russia a tiny bit less miserable.