This study is the latest forward assessment by FAO of possible future developments in world food, nutrition and agriculture, including the crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries sectors. It is the product of a multidisciplinary exercise, involving most of the technical units and disciplines present in FAO, as well as specialists from outside FAO. It continues the tradition of FAO’s periodical perspective studies for global agriculture, the latest of which was published in 1995 (Alexandratos, 1995). Earlier editions were Alexandratos (1988), FAO (1981a) and FAO (1970). An interim, less complete version of the present study was published in April 2000. Comments received on the interim report helped shape the study in its present form. The projections were carried out in considerable detail, covering about 140 countries and 32 crop and livestock commodities (see Appendix 1). For nearly all the developing countries, the main factors contributing to the growth of agricultural production were identified and analysed separately. Sources of productivity growth, such as higher crop yields and livestock carcass weights, were distinguished from other growth sources, such as the area of cultivated land and the sizes of livestock herds.