1.   Costa and Williams both believe that a system incorporating levee setbacks and bypasses would yield environmental benefits by increasing riparian habitat without significantly reducing crop acreage.

2.   He has dropped cotton for now, but still raises peanuts and has boosted his corn, watermelon and some other crop acreages.

3.   Shrinking crop acreage in some countries as a result of recently low prices underpinned the price rise.

4.   But increasing urbanisation and faltering efforts to reclaim arid land mean that crop acreage cannot be increased much further.