Alan Brockman's hope for the 21st century is no less than a revolution in world farming, which will see organic farming coming into its own.

A walk with Ove Jensen on his farm in Trossnas, Sweden, will convince you that Swedish farmers are among the most efficient in the world. Encouraged to make the most of the country's harsh climate by Sweden's system of food subsidies, Swedish farms bristle with the latest technology. But Jensen's commitment to producing food doesn't stop at Sweden's borders.

'No one comes here except the army-, it's too dangerous,' the driver told his passenger, a tiny but determined woman agricultural student. The area, in the mountains of Northern Thailand, had been devastated and depopulated by guerrilla warfare.