(1) a new excitement has been added to the queer race that man has run against himself through the ages, testing whether he can produce food fast enough to feed his fast-growing family. (2) in the past the race has never been a contest. (3) never, in all the yesterdays since he clambered out of the primeval ooze, has man the provider caught up with man the pro-creator: there has been famine somewhere in the world in nearly every year of recorded history. (4) even today, after twenty centuries of christian enlightment, half man's family goes hungry and vast numbers of them are actually starving to death. (5) nevertheless, the race has suddenly grown close enough to be charged with suspense. (6) for the provider has latterly been getting expert coaching from the sidelines and, despite the fact that the procreator is adding to his family at the unprecedented rate of nearly fifty million a year, the gap is steadily closing. (7) the coach responsible for this remarkable turn of events is the food and agricultural organization, more familiarly known as fao, a specialized agency of the united nations.
