Modern agricultural precision technologies adopted by farms over recent decades have boosted crop production effectiveness, although the gains have be...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Modern agricultural precision technologies adopted by farms over recent decades have boosted crop production effectiveness, although the gains have been greatest in planting and harvesting processes, which occur following the completion of soil preparation and crop planning phases. This suggests that during recent decades, ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
advanced agricultural technologies allowed producers to grow more diverse crop types than was feasible using conventional approaches.
soil preparation and crop planning activities experienced less technological transformation than planting and harvesting processes.
agricultural producers typically expected that new technologies would boost productivity more significantly than decrease workforce expenses.
farm operators expanded their crop variety selections through increased specialty cultivations while decreasing the land area allocated to individual types.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Modern agricultural precision technologies adopted by farms over recent decades have boosted crop production effectiveness' |
|
| 'although the gains have been greatest in planting and harvesting processes' |
|
| 'which occur following the completion of soil preparation and crop planning phases' |
|
| 'This suggests that during recent decades, ______' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Modern agricultural technologies have improved crop production, but the improvements were concentrated more in later processes (planting and harvesting) than in earlier ones.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that new agricultural tech has helped overall, then narrows focus to where the biggest gains occurred (planting and harvesting), provides crucial timing information (these happen after soil preparation and crop planning), and then asks us to draw a logical conclusion from this pattern.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The passage tells us that technological gains were greatest in planting and harvesting processes
- These processes happen after soil preparation and crop planning phases
- If the gains were greatest in the later processes, what does this logically suggest about the earlier processes?
- The right answer should indicate that soil preparation and crop planning experienced less technological improvement compared to planting and harvesting
- This is the natural inference when we're told some processes had the 'greatest gains' - it implies other processes had lesser gains
advanced agricultural technologies allowed producers to grow more diverse crop types than was feasible using conventional approaches.
- This choice discusses crop diversity and conventional approaches
- The passage doesn't mention anything about growing different types of crops or comparing to conventional methods
- This doesn't follow from the information about where technological gains were concentrated
soil preparation and crop planning activities experienced less technological transformation than planting and harvesting processes.
- This directly addresses the logical relationship established in the passage
- If gains were 'greatest' in planting and harvesting, then by logical implication, other processes (soil preparation and crop planning) experienced less transformation
- This perfectly matches our prethinking about what the passage suggests
agricultural producers typically expected that new technologies would boost productivity more significantly than decrease workforce expenses.
- This choice brings up producer expectations and workforce expenses
- The passage discusses actual results of technology adoption, not what producers expected
- There's no information about workforce expenses versus productivity gains
farm operators expanded their crop variety selections through increased specialty cultivations while decreasing the land area allocated to individual types.
- This choice discusses crop variety expansion and land allocation strategies
- The passage focuses on technological improvements in different agricultural processes, not on crop selection or land use decisions
- Nothing in the passage supports conclusions about specialty cultivations or land area allocation