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THE GREEN REVOLUTION

THE GREEN REVOLUTION. (The Third Agricultural Revolution) And Biotechnology. THOMAS MALTHUS. 19 th century economist Believed that because population grows geometrically and food production arithmetically famine was inevitable.

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THE GREEN REVOLUTION

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  1. THE GREEN REVOLUTION • (The Third Agricultural Revolution) • And Biotechnology

  2. THOMAS MALTHUS • 19th century economist • Believed that because population grows geometrically and food production arithmetically famine was inevitable. • Slowing the growth of population was the only possibility to prevent starvation History (so far) has proven Malthus wrong . . .

  3. INCREASE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION PER CAPITA

  4. There are two important terms to bear in mind here: • Food entitlement deficit (FED) suggests that food shortages were caused by a lack of wages/income (rising costs of food relative to average incomes) • Food availability deficit (FAD) suggests that food shortages were caused by local difficulties in supply, perhaps the result of drought or floods

  5. What is the Green Revolution • The term Green Revolution refers to the renovation of agricultural practices beginning in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the amount of calories produced per acre of agriculture.

  6. The crops developed during the Green Revolution were high yield varieties - meaning they were domesticated plants bred specifically to respond to fertilizers and produce an increased amount of grain per acre planted.

  7. GREEN REVOLUTION A complex of improvements which greatly increased agricultural production • Adoption of new, improved varieties of grains • Application of better agricultural techniques • Irrigation • Mechanization • Use of fertilizer • Use of pesticides • Since 1950’s • Greatest effect felt in LDCs • Agricultural output outpaced population growth even without adding additional cropland

  8. WHEAT Mexico Egypt Turkey • RICE Thailand Vietnam Korea Indonesia Principal Beneficiaries of the Green Revolution • BOTH • India • China • Pakistan

  9. “Golden Rice”THE GREAT YELLOW HOPE • In 1982, the Rockefeller Foundation funded research into rice varieties to promote global health • Nutritionally enhanced rice • Used a daffodil gene • Rice now produces beta-carotene • The body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A • Blindness in LDCs is caused by vitamin A deficiencies • Time Magazine declares: “This rice could save a million kids a year.” • Greenpeace acknowledged: “Golden rice is a moral challenge to our position.”

  10. “Golden Rice”THE GREAT YELLOW HYPE • An 11 year-old child would need to eat 15 pounds of golden rice a day to satisfy the minimum daily requirement of vitamin A • Conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A requires fat and protein in the diet (these are lacking in LDCs) • Asians may not want to eat golden rice – they prefer white rice over the more nutrient rich brown rice which has always existed • Education to push golden rice costs money – why not just hand out vitamin A? • Golden rice cost more than $100 million to develop – it is just a PR stunt for genetically altered foods

  11. “Green Revolution”benefits • Core exports high-yield “miracle” seeds • Needed oil-based fertilizers, pesticides • Asian rice crop up 66% in 1965-85 • Favored areas with good soil, weather

  12. “Green Revolution”

  13. “Green Revolution”drawbacks • Favored farmers who could afford seeds, • inputs, machines, irrigation • Indebted farmers lost land, moved to cities • New “monocrops” lacked resistance to disease/pests • Environmental contamination, erosion • Oriented to export “cash crops,” not domestic food

  14. Biotechnology: Using organisms to… • Make or modify products • Improve plants or animals • Develop new microorganisms • Crossing natural divides between species • Not just crossbreeding

  15. Genetic Engineering

  16. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Consumer concerns began in Europe, now in U.S. too

  17. “FRANKENFOODS”

  18. Biotechnologybenefits in agriculture • Increase yields • Increase pest resistance • Grow crops in new areas

  19. Biotechnologydrawbacks in agriculture • High costs (available to few) • Monocrops have less tolerance to disease • Possible health effects • Contamination of wild crops (“superweeds”) • Corporate patents on life forms

  20. Bovine GrowthHormone (BGH)

  21. Starlink corn

  22. First calf cloned in Wisconsin, 1997. Many clones die of complications. Ethical and economic conflicts

  23. San Francisco Farmers’ Market

  24. Minneapolis airport flower stand

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