Green Revolution
Food Chain Radio Show #1248
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
The Green Revolution
Guest: Anneliese Abbott, Agriculture Journalist, ACRES USA
The Green Revolution was, in essence, the dissemination of America’s industrial agriculture to the world community. Plant scientist Norman Borlaugh was the Green Revolution’s principal revolutionary.
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Proponents and opponents agree – the Green Revolution Americanized the world’s agriculture. We ask: Was the Green Revolution a success or a failure?
Proponents of the Green Revolution claim that it enabled the world’s agriculture to keep pace with the world’s rapidly expanding population. Without the increased productivity of crops made possible by the Green Revolution, millions of people would have died, as was predicted in Paul Ehrlich’s book, The Population Bomb. And that is how Norman Borlaug came to be know as “the man who saved the lives of millions.”
But opponents say the Green Revolution was one of the worst tragedies in agriculture history. They say Borlaug’s Green Revolution technologies supplanted the traditional farming methods that evolved over centuries of practice. As a consequence of the Green Revolution, millions of small farmers were forced off their land and into crowded cities.
While both proponents and opponents agree that the Green Revolution Americanized the world’s agriculture, they do not agree as to whether the Americanization was a good thing or a bad thing. And so today we pause to ask: :
Leave a comment below: Was the Green Revolution a success or a failure?
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