The Green Revolution
What Is The Green Revolution?
The Green Revolution is a large increase in crop production in developing countries that was achieved by the use of fertilizers, pesticides and high yield crop varieties. During this time period, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides were created. The chemical fertilizers made it possible to supply these crops with extra nutrients and therefore increase the yield of the crops and farms.
Impacts of the Green Revolution
Because fertilizers were mainly what made the Green Revolution possible, they changed agricultural practices forever. The high yield crops developed during this time could no longer grow successfully without the help of fertilizers. Irrigation also played a large role in the Green Revolution and this particularly changed where various crop could be grown. For example, not so long before the Green Revolution, agriculture was only limited to areas with an abundant amount of rainfall. With irrigation however, water is able to be stores and sent to drier areas, which puts more land into agricultural production. This increased nationwide crop yields. In addition to the chemical advances used during this period of time, high-yield crops were also developed. High yield crops are crops which are specifically made to produce more overall yield. Another method known as multiple cropping was also introduced during the Green Revolution. Multiple cropping is a process in which a field is used to grow two or more crops throughout the year. This was introduced and utilized so that the fields would constantly have something growing on them. When combined, these new farming techniques intensified the results of The Green Revolution.
As a result of the Green Revolution, the agricultural industry was able to produce much larger quantities of food. This increase in productivity made it possible to feed the growing human population. Norman Borlaug is famous for his involvement in the Green Revolution. In the 1940's, Norman Borlaug developed a strain of wheat that could resist diseases. The strain of wheat he developed was also short which reduced damage that could have been done by wind. It could also produce large seed heads. Norman Borlaug first introduced this strain of wheat in Mexico and just within 20 years, the total production of wheat has tripled if not more. Because of this great increase, the production of more food for the people living in Mexico was made possible as well as making it possible for the people of Mexico to export their newly grown wheat. This reduced production costs and also resulted in cheaper prices for food in the global market. The ability to grow more food on the same amount of land was also beneficial to the environment because it meant that less forests and natural land needed to be destroyed and converted to farmland so to produce more food. From the years 1961 to 2009, the human population increased by 100 percent while the production of food increased by 150 percent, with only 10 percent of use of forests and natural land increasing.
Opinion-
In my opinion although the Green Revolution had several benefits, I feel as though the issues associate with the Green Revolution have outweighed the good. There were some issues that affected both the environment and society in such negative ways. The use of chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides dramatically increased the levels of pollution and erosion which directly affects the environment. The new materials added to the soil and plants polluted the soil as well as polluting the water systems around fields. The pollution of the water exposed people and the environment downstream to the chemicals being used in the farm fields. The pollution of the soil resulted in poor quality of soil which then continued to increase the risk of erosion of the topsoil (how ironic!!). In addition to the pollution produced by the new farming techniques and chemicals, the environment was also directly impacted by the irrigation systems. Yes these irrigation systems were needed to sustain the growth of the plants but the massively large amount of water required put pressure on other natural water reserves and resulted in water shortages and droughts in many areas.
The environment was also negatively affected by the Green Revolution due to the increased consumption of energy. The amount of energy used for worldwide agricultural purposes increased by 80 times from 1900 to 2000 which is completely absurd. And this is all because of the shift from human and animal labour to the usage of machines. This drastic increase in energy consumption and increased dependency on fossil fuels obviously resulted in more pollution that further harmed our environment. In addition to the environmental issues the Green Revolution has brought up, I believe that the increased amount of food production has led to overpopulation worldwide. Why produce so much when it isn't needed? I also have to criticize the Green Revolution because its benefits have not reached places like Africa that need it. I strongly believe that the major problem surrounding the use of these technologies lie on the lack of infrastructure as well as government systems being corrupted. Although the Green Revolution has forever changed the way agriculture is done worldwide, benefiting people of many nations in need of increased food production, as an individual who is an environmentalist I would say that the Green Revolution was not so GREEN at all and I believe that we could have done less then the damage we have already caused as always..