Editorial noteThe first Hammond Memorial Lecture was given in London in March 1969 by Dr C. P. McMeekan, CBE, formerly Director of the Ruakura Research Centre in New Zealand, afterwards on the staff of, and currently consultant to, the World Bank. Apart from its special interest to those engaged in animal science, the lecture contained much of general interest to natural and social scientists and we are grateful to Dr McMeekan, the Hammond Memorial Trustees and the British Society for Animal Production, under whose auspices the lecture was delivered, for permission to print a substantial portion of it in the Journal of Biosocial Science.Some of the selected material is provocative. For instance, it would be interesting to know the basis of the assumption that world population having risen to 6000 million by the end of this century, will then stabilize. Again, many will disagree with the estimates of unused usable land. But all of the material stimulates thought and we are glad to have the opportunity of publishing it.After discussing the outstanding achievements of Sir John Hammond and the progress of animal science generally, Dr McMeekan continued: