Malthus argued population always outruns the food supply

Thomas Malthus argued that population grows geometrically while food production grows only arithmetically, so any gains in income get erased by more mouths to feed. Societies are pulled back to subsistence by famine, disease, or war until technology breaks the cycle. Industrialisation eventually escaped this 'Malthusian trap' for much of the world.

— Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population — 1798