Increasing Yields:
The Green Revolution
Sources:
http://www.lastfirst.net/images/product/R004548.jpg
Yields have increased
• British wheat yields
tripled in last 50 years
– 15X increase from 500
years ago
• Cereal yield
worldwide doubled
since 1960s
http://www.essentialoil.in/images/wheat.jpg
Reasons Yields Increase
• Increased inputs
– Labor
– Fertilizer
– Machinery
• increased output
– Using technology
– without increasing inputs
• Increased efficiency
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=102482&rendTypeId=4
Production Function
• Initially, as input
increases, output
increases
• Eventually, a point of
maximum efficiency
will be reached
• Additional input will
lead to diminished
increases in output
http://450.aers.psu.edu/images/technical_efficiency.gif
Inputs
• Fertilizer
– Can improve yields
dramatically: 20-1000%
– Diminished response if keep
adding
– Reduces growth at high
levels
– Effectiveness depends on
• Water/Irrigation
• Timing of application
– Biggest increase will be in
Africa
• Dem. Rep. Congo uses 1%
Cassava in Gambia
http://www.reap-canada.com/images/international_38.gif
fertilizer used in South
Africa
Fertilizer use
Inputs
• Animal Traction
– 400 million draft animals
in world
– ½ World’s ag land
farmed with draft animals
– ¼ farmed with hand tools
– ¼ mechanized
China
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/geog/RicePlowing.gif
Use of Draft Animals
• Do the work of 3-4
•
•
•
•
humans
Increase land able to be
farmed
Animal plowing breaks
soil better than by hand
Source of fertilizer
Initial cost high
– Profitable if can expand
land
Vietnam
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/lotus/mplowing.jpg
Tractors
• Poorest farmers will consider
moving from hand tools to
animals
• Farmers using animals will
consider using machinery
• May not be efficient choice:
Zimbabwe
–
–
–
–
Credit limited
Gas expensive
Maintenance expensive
But labor cheap
Small farms more efficient
• Small farmers use
labor more intensively
• Small farmers use
space more efficiently
• Small landowners
more motivated for
production and
conservation
Tanzania
Big growers less efficient
• Big growers are less
efficient than small
growers
– in yield/acre
• Big operations are fossil
fuel intensive
– requiring 10 Calories for
every one produced:
• NeoCaloric Ag
Big Growers in Brazil
• Land ownership is
inequitable
– 2/3 of land owned by
3% of population
– 60% of farmland is left
idle
– 4.8 million rural families
are landless
Brazil Farm
Big Growers
• Advantages of wealth, size
– Big farms can more easily survive
• Bad years
• Market swings
• Large operations with
absentee owners (investors)
tend to:
– Overuse the soil
– Over-spray with chemicals
– Remove wealth generated from
the community
http://www.pnwwaterweb.com/images/sprayer.jpg
Land Reform
• World Bank:
– productivity would be increased
if land distribution more
equitable
• Land reform (redistribution)
successful after WWII:
– South Korea,
– Taiwan
– China
• Recent success
Kerala, India
http://www.freewebs.com/lindartw/INtamil17.JPG
– Japan
– Zimbabwe
– Kerala, India
Green Revolution
• 1960’s: improved wheat
Wheat improvement
http://www.cgiar.org/images/may2006_3.gif
varieties gave dramatic
increase in yield in
Mexico
• Varieties more responsive
to irrigation and
petrochemical fertilizers
• Soon new rice and maize
varieties
Norman Borlaug
• Joined Rockefeller
Foundation team in Mexico
1944
• Increased yield, rust
resistance in wheat
• Biggest contributor to Green
Revolution
• Won Nobel Peace Prize in
1970
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/
07/17/norman_borlaug.jpg
Green Revolution
• 1970’s: spread to
millions of third world
farmers
• 1990’s: 40% of all
farms in third world
– 75% Rice in Asia
– 80% Wheat in third
world
– 70% Corn worldwide
India
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fVs96B7mQe3a/610x.jpg
• Increased yields 250%
• Improved standard of
living for millions
people worldwide
CIMMYT
• CIMMYT
– International Maize
and Wheat
Improvement Center
– In Mexico
• Part of CGIAR
CIMMYT, Mexico
http://nue.okstate.edu/Picture_2.jpg
– Consultative Group on
International
Agricultural Research
Criticisms of the Green Revolution
• Green Revolution hasn’t
alleviated hunger
• Economic power, land
controlled by few
• Technology benefits wealthy
• Therefore Green Revolution
increases inequity
– More hunger AND more food
at same time
Criticisms of the Green Revolution
• Food Insecurity of poor not
Zambia
http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng/zt/Features/W020060929647944067705.jpg
addressed
• Cash Crops: food flows from
the poor and hungry nations
to the rich and well-fed
nations
• Green Revolution not
sustainable
– destroys resource base on
which agriculture depends
Example: India
• Self-sufficient in grain
due to Green Revolution
• But 1/3 of people poor
• 5,000 children die each
day
• Poor cannot afford to
BUY the food
India
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fcb0nk3Wwarf/610x.jpg
Criticisms of the Green Revolution
• Early, poor had little access
to credit
• Could not buy seeds,
fertilizer, irrigation to make
Green Revolution work
• Wealthy invested, got
richer, drove out poor
• Now, more emphasis on
loans for poor
Irrigation in Punjab, India
http://kesa.in/irg3a.jpg
There are still problems
• Need good land (wealthy own)
• Agrochemicals bad for health,
•
•
•
•
Planting rice, India
environment
Expensive inputs: profits to
global chemical companies
Rural people displaced from land
Mechanization reduces
agricultural jobs
Not ecologically sustainable:
depletes soil, pesticide race
http://frank.itlab.us/India_2002/dec_25_planting_rice.jpg
Philippines Example
• Two villages studied:
– large and small farmers
invested in Green Revolution
• Village 1 had more equal land
holdings, solidarity
– All benefited from Green
Revolution
• Village 2 dominated by a few
wealthy landowners.
– Wealthy increased land by
50% at expense of poor
http://i.pbase.com/g6/09/610009/2/85229411.jw5eMGu6.jpg
Farm Squeeze
• Fertilizer use increases by huge
amount
• Yields do not increase
proportionally
• India: 6x rise in fertilizer use
– but 2/3 less production/ton of
fertilizer
• Need more fertilizer, pesticide
each year for same result
• Thus cost go up faster than
yields: cost-price squeeze
Farm Squeeze
• U.S. true home of Green Revolution
• Yields up 3x
– but prices down
• To survive, must expand acreage
– to make up for lower per acre profit.
http://www.ncccusa.org/gifs/Farming.jpg
U.S. Farm Squeeze
• Since WWII
–
–
–
–
http://www.mamalisa.com/images/blog/cornfarm.jpg
number of farms decreased 2/3
average farm size up ½
rural communities gutted
production costs up from 50%
of gross to 80%
Soil Depletion Worldwide
• Dramatic increases in
yields during 1970s,
1980s
• Soil now depleted,
resulting in leveling
off or dropping yields
• 6% of Ag land in India
now useless
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/land_deg/concern.gif
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI)
Phillippines
http://cropwiki.irri.org/icis/images/thumb/b/bc/IRRI.gif/350px-IRRI.gif
Rice Problem
• 1968: IR8 rice had 2x yield increase
– Short
• need herbicides to compete with weeds
– Uniform genetically
• susceptible to pests
– Brown plant hopper devastated rice
– Insecticide spraying useless
• brown hopper resistant
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2300/2198720003_4242e01d24.jpg?v=0
Rice Problem
• 1973: IR26 Resistant
to brown plant hopper
– Worked 2 years
– Then Biotype 2 of
plant hoppers
attacked
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/RiceDoctor/Fact_Sheets/image5.jpg
Rice Problem
• 1975: IR32 Resistant to
Biotype 2
– Now Biotype 3 appeared
– Insecticides again useless
– Insecticides killed off brown
hopper predators
– Resulted in 40x increase in
hoppers
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/367777228_e90badf1da.jpg?v=0
Profits
• Profits from Green
Revolution go to
–
–
–
–
Middlemen
Banks
Chemical companies
Biggest growers
• Grain prices fall
• Farms get bigger
Brazil
http://assets.panda.org/img/59894_amazon_agriculture2_50779.jpg
Increased Dependency
• Poor countries must
import:
–
–
–
–
Seeds
Fertilizer
Pesticides
Herbicides
• Cost to India increased
600% 1960-1980
• Biotechnology leads to
more dependency
Unsustainable Agriculture
• Industrial agriculture =
– mining land to extract
maximum output
• “War” between humans and
weeds, insects and disease
• Market dictates weapons:
– pesticides and chemical
fertilizers
• We are destroying our foodproducing resources
http://progressivegardening.com/ProgressiveGardeningImages/PesticideMixing250.jpg
Destruction of Ag Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Desertification
Soil erosion
Pesticide contamination
Groundwater depletion
Salinization
Urban sprawl
Genetic resources
shrinking
• Fossil fuels depleting
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Erosion.jpg/397
px-Erosion.jpg
Sustainable Agriculture Goals
• Environmental Health
• Economic Profitability
• Social and Economic
Equity
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/curriculum/images/imagesclip_image002.jpg
http://www.newfarm.org/international/features/2007/0907/burkinafaso/i
mages/sawadogo.jpg
Agroecology
• Sustainable farming based on
ecological principles:
–
–
–
–
Diversity
Interdependence
Synergy
Complex interactions
• Science to improve not
displace traditional farming
• Low energy, capital costs
http://herbnerds.com/images/deb.jpg
Agroecology
• Intercropping
– Mixing annual and perennial
crops
• Crop rotations
– Rotate cereals and legumes
• Mixing of plant and animal
production
– Rice paddies with edible
weeds, fish and rice
• Not continuous production
of one crop
Intercropping, Senegal
http://www.bioking.nl/jatropha/Intercropping.jpg
Africa
• Fragile soils must be protected
• Could mix millet, cattle, and
•
•
•
•
•
Acacia trees
Trees fix nitrogen, have deep tap
roots
Cattle eat tree pods
Plant millet after leaves fall
Could support 2x population in
Senegal
Aid agencies instead promoting
new seeds, fertilizers,
agrochemicals, biotechnology,
free trade
Evergreen Revolution
• Swaminathan led Green
Revolution in India
• Agrees cannot maintain crop yields
• Problems:
–
–
–
–
Excessive use of pesticides
Groundwater depletion
Pollution
Monoculture
• Therefore, India needs sustainable
agriculture
– “Evergreen Revolution “
M.S. Swaminathan
World Food Prize 1987
http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/Swami.JPG
Vandana Shiva
"Ecological problems
arise from applying
the engineering
paradigm to life."
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Shiva
Critic of the Green Revolution in
India
• “The Green Revolution has been a
failure.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Vandana Shiva
It has led to reduced genetic diversity,
increased vulnerability to pests,
soil erosion,
water shortages,
reduced soil fertility,
micronutrient deficiencies,
soil contamination…
Critic of the Green Revolution in
India
• “…reduced availability of
nutritious food crops for the local
population,
• the displacement of vast numbers
of small farmers form their land,
• rural impoverishment and
• increased tensions and conflicts. …
Vandana Shiva
Critic of the Green Revolution in
India
• “…The beneficiaries have been
–
–
–
–
–
the agrochemical industry,
large petrochemical companies,
manufacturers of agricultural machinery,
dam builders and
large landowners.”
-- Vandana Shiva "The Violence of the Green Revolution: Ecological
Degradation and Political Conflict in Punjab." The Ecologist, 1991, 21(2):57-60
Genetic Engineering:
The Next Green Revolution ?
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_15/b3624011.htm
Next Green Revolution?
• Biotechnology will help
developing countries
accomplish things that they
could never do with
conventional plant breeding”
• “I believe genetically
modified food crops will
stop world hunger.”
Norman Borlaug
Nobel Peace Prize
http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper657/stills/r9ow4l39.gif
The Next Green Revolution?
• Biotechnology helps farmers
produce higher yields on less land.
• Technology allows us to have less
impact on soil erosion, biodiversity,
wildlife, forests, and grasslands
• To achieve comparable yields
(1950-1999) with old farming
methods, would have needed an
additional 1.8 Billion hectares of
land
Norman Borlaug
Nobel Peace Prize
http://magicstatistics.com/wp-content/pictures/persons/Norman_Borlaug.jpg
Biotechnology Critic
• Biotechnology development
– Same vision as chemical industry:
• Short term goals
•
•
•
•
-- Jane Rissler, Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/art/risslerp.jpg
– Enhanced yields, profit margins
Nature should be dominated and
exploited
– forced to yield more
Prefer quick solutions
– to complex ecological problems
Reductionist thinking about farming
– Instead of integrated systems
Agricultural success means
– Short term profits
– Not long term sustainability