I'm in the process of writing an essay for university about the boring (but relevant) subject of land degradation, but I've found that in this case Malthusian viewpoints make false assumptions about the reasons why people cannot provide food for themselves or for their livelihoods. For example, sometimes farmers are restricted from having a large herd of cattle, to prevent overgrazing, when that is not the problem at all. I don't think that Malthusian theory is necessarily wrong but it is sometimes responsible for overlooking important parts of a problem.