Modern agricultureAgriculture underwent little change from the end of the medieval age to the mid-twenty-first century. (Baker, 2014) When the tractor became the common agricultural tool and replaced the horse, crop yields remained more or less the same. (Baker, 2014) From 1866 to 1938, the corn yield in the United States was 30 bushels per acre. This, when compared to medieval returns, is not much higher than that of a good growth year in medieval times. (Baker, 2014) Innovation was drastically blocked by World War II and the Korean conflict. However, by 1951, crop yields began to steadily increase as new technologies such as fertilizers and hybrid corn breeds became more readily available in the United States. (Baker, 2014) After the introduction of these innovations, corn yields in the United States, from 1952 -present, have shown a yield increase of 2 bushels per acre per year. (Baker, 2014) This simple increase, not only in corn, but in other grain sources, has led to a huge increase in the world's population. The population has increased more rapidly over the last 200 years than at any other time in history. This may seem like a relatively short period of time, but compared to the history of agriculture it is a very short period of time. Consider that it took more than 1000 years for the world to reach a population of 1 billion and only 207 years to reach 7 billion. This is an exponential population explosion. Throughout history, agriculture, through various revolutions, has made it possible to support the world's population. Through innovations such as the plow, crop rotation, and fertilizers, crops grew and supported the population. But how will modern agriculture support a population of 7 billion people? There is n... half of the article... Biosafety?" Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 9.2 (2002): 461-500. Web. March 1, 2014. Levetin, Estelle and Karen McMahon "Chapter 11: Origins of agriculture." Plants and Society (2010): 609-613. Web. 17 February 2014. Pray, Carl, Latha Nagrajan, Luping Li, Jikun D. Huag, Ruifa Hu, K. N. Selvaraj, Ora Napasintuwong, and Chandra Babu “Potential impact of biotechnology on agricultural adaptation to climate change: the case of drought-tolerant rice breeding in Asia. " Sustainability 3 (2011): 1723-1741. Web. 17 February 2014. Xia, Lanqin, Youzhi Ma, Yi He, and Huw D. Jones. “GM Wheat Development in China: Current Status and Challenges to Commercialization.” Journal of Experimental Botany 63.5 (2012): 1785-1790 Web. 2014.