37(Unit 5.

5)
37-1 What are the three primary characteristics of the Green Revolution? Three
characteristics of the Green Revolution are the development and use of high-yield
seeds, the increased use of synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, and
increased irrigation and mechanization. 37-2 What are the positive consequences of
the Green Revolution on human populations and the environment? The Green Revolution
has led to increased crop productivity for cereal grains grown by farmers using
high-yield seeds. The increase in productivity allowed for the development of an
export economy in Asian and Latin American countries. The Green Revolution
substantially decreased world hunger. By increasing production on the same acreage,
the Green Revolution made the use of agricultural land and resources more
efficient.
37-3 What are the negative consequences of the Green Revolution on human
populations and the environment? The expense of seed, fertilizer, and associated
mechanization has made it difficult for poor farmers to participate in the Green
Revolution. There has been a loss of subsistence farming and an associated loss in
plant diversity, genetic variety, and food security. The geographical impact of the
Green Revolution has been highly varied, with a limited effect throughout Africa.
The use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides can make farm workers ill and
cause environmental contamination. The improper use of irrigation has led to higher
soil salinity and groundwater depletion in some areas.

The last two Modules told the story of the first two agricultural revolutions. The
First Agricultural Revolution began in prehistoric times with the domestication and
diffusion of plants and animals and the development and diffusion of agriculture.
The Second Agricultural Revolution coincided with the Industrial Revolution and
brought major improvements and efficiencies through new technologies and increases
in agricultural productivity. We now turn to the Third Agricultural Revolution.
During this period, advances in technologies and production diffused from the more
economically developed industrialized countries, such as the United States and
England, to developing countries that depended primarily on subsistence
agriculture, such as India and Mexico. Agricultural diffusion during the Third
Agricultural Revolution includes the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. The
Green Revolution refers to the U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed
varieties and agricultural technologies for use in less developed countries. The
Green Revolution was built on the scientific advances in plant breeding, synthetic
fertilizers, and chemical pesticides. Specifically, a team of scientists led by Dr.
Norman Borlaug used advanced methods of plant breeding to develop seeds for cereal
grains that would produce higher crop yields. Increased productivity of existing
cropland rather than expansion of agricultural land was a key feature of the Green
Revolution. Overall, the Green Revolution brought larger harvests to subsistence
farmers.

37-1The three primary characteristics of the Green Revolution are the development
and use of high-yield seeds, the increased use of synthetic fertilizers and
chemical pesticides, and increased irrigation and mechanization.
Scientists directed their earliest efforts toward developing high-yielding
varieties of wheat in Mexico in the early 1940s. Within seven years, scientists
distributed the first Green Revolution wheat seeds to farmers in Mexico. Their
efforts were successful, and their next goal was to develop higher-yielding maize
seeds. Recall our discussion in Module 36 about the domestication of maize in
Mexico. Now think about that early domestication as a continuous learning process
that results in the scientific development of new seeds that lead to bigger crop
yields. The difference between the earliest domestication of plants and the Green
Revolution development of high-yield seeds is that improvements happened much
faster as we built on our knowledge base. The development of maize into the plant
we know today took thousands of years, but it took less than a decade to develop a
high-yield variety that helped alleviate hunger in the developing world. Encouraged
by their success with wheat and maize in Mexico, scientists expanded their efforts
to other cereal grains. In the 1960s, they began experimenting with rice using a
genetic technique called crossbreeding, which is the act of mixing different
species or varieties of plants or animals to produce hybrids. A hybrid is the
offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties. For example,
scientists crossed a dwarf variety of Chinese rice with an Indonesian variety,
producing a hybrid strain of rice that produced higher yields than either of the
parent plants. This hybrid, called IR8, had a larger head of grain and a stronger
stem that did not collapse under the weight of the larger head. Continuing research
resulted in another hybrid rice plant that exhibited genetic resistance against 15
pests and had a growing cycle of just 110 days, compared with 150 days for the non-
hybrid varieties. Along with the higher yields produced by this new strain, the
shorter growing cycle provided an opportunity for farmers to produce three crops
per year in some places. By the early 1990s, this strain of rice, IR36, was the
most widely grown crop on Earth.
Traditional subsistence farmers who grow crops to feed their families have long
understood the need to fertilize their crops. These traditional farmers apply
manure produced by their domesticated animals, ashes, and other natural products to
maintain the fertility of their land. Recall from Module 35 the cycle that early
farmers used when they first integrated domesticated animals with crop production:
the domesticated cattle helped the farmers by pulling plows and providing
fertilizer that improved crop yields, and the farmers provided the cattle with food
from the crops (Figure 37.1). This interaction kept the soil fertile and enabled
farmers to produce enough food for the family and perhaps a small surplus for sale
at a local market. However, this practice was not effective in producing the high
yields needed to supply food to an increasing population. Figure 37.1 Traditional
cycle between farm animals and crops. The manure from the water buffalo is used as
a natural fertilizer for the plants in the rice paddy and in the family garden. The
farmer harvests the crops and uses some of the harvest to feed the oxen. In this
way, farmer and animals work together. As we learned in Module 36, it was not until
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that scientists understood the
importance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as elements critical to plant
health and higher crop yields. Thus, the Green Revolution entailed more than just
the development of high-yield seed varieties. In developing the new seeds,
scientists understood that in order to meet their yield potential, the plants
required significant amounts of synthetic fertilizers and irrigation water to
transport the nutrients in the fertilizer to the plant. In addition, the high-yield
seed varieties tended to be less resistant to insects and diseases, necessitating
the use of newly developed chemical pesticides. The Green Revolution, then,
promised larger harvests but tied the farmer to greatly increased expenditures for
hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, an irrigation
infrastructure to provide a consistent source of water for the crops, and
mechanized farm equipment. For some farmers, the costs of these inputs were too
high, and they were unable to attain the benefits of the Green Revolution.
Irrigation infrastructure is an important component in producing the high crop
yields made possible by Green Revolution technology. While a consistent source of
water is important for the success of all crops, we will concentrate on paddy rice
farming as an example of the development of irrigation methods. Recall that paddy
rice farming requires flooded paddies for the growth of seedlings to maturity and
harvest (Figure 37.2). While farming villages in wet-rice-producing regions in Asia
always had some means of irrigating the rice paddies, water flow was often
dependent on seasonal rains or spring-fed ponds. Thus, the farmers planted with the
arrival of the rains and often celebrated the planting with traditional folk
festivals. For example, in northeast Thailand, the beginning of the rainy season is
celebrated by Songkran, the Thai festival of water that marks the end of the dry
season. The festival is a joyous occasion marked by parades and religious
ceremonies to ask for a productive crop and much rain (Figure 37.3). Figure 37.2
Thai farmers with rice seedlings. Rice seeds are planted in small plots, where they
grow until they are big enough to transplant into the rice paddies. These farmers
are pulling the seedlings from the growing bed and getting them ready for planting,
a labor-intensive process. Figure 37.3 Elephants with children during Songkran. A
primary activity of the annual water festival in Thailand is “water throwing,”
where everyone in the village is splashed or sprayed with water. Those who own
elephants may bring them to small villages to take part in this ancient celebration
at the beginning of the rainy season. While festivals to mark the beginning of the
rainy season are still an important part of village culture in most rice-growing
areas dependent on the rains, farmers are no longer as dependent on seasonal
rainfall. They now rely on irrigation to provide the water necessary to raise the
crops and distribute the fertilizers that bring nutrients to the plants. Irrigation
projects included regional dam construction along with piped water, irrigation
pumps, and mechanical dikes to villages and plots of land for individual farmers
(Figure 37.4). Figure 37.4 Paddy rice cultivation and irrigation in Kerala, India.
The irrigation channel or ditch in this image is the result of Green Revolution
technology. The farmer can control the water flow with various water gates and
dikes. As a result of irrigation projects, farmers in many areas of Southeast Asia
began double-cropping rice to maximize production. Double-cropping means planting
another crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested.
The intense labor needed to produce more than one rice crop a year led to the
adoption of mechanical equipment such as tractors and machines for working in the
paddies (Figure 37.5a). These machines were more efficient and less labor intensive
than using draft animals, such as the water buffalo (Figure 37.5b). Tractors were
sometimes provided free of charge to farmers, but quite often the necessary
instructions on how to repair the machinery were not provided. Thus, a small break
in the machinery caused a major catastrophe for the small farmers who were used to
the steady plodding of their water buffalo to cultivate the fields. In the early
1980s, many tractors were abandoned in fields and rice paddies due to a mechanical
problem or, in some instances, the difficulty of obtaining fuel. In contrast, a
water buffalo required feed that was easily obtainable from the crops produced by
the farmer. Due to the high cost of maintaining mechanized equipment, some
traditional farmers continued to rely on the water buffalo. Figure 37.5 Modern and
traditional paddy rice farmers. (a) This farmer is preparing the paddy for planting
rice with a tiller tractor developed during the Green Revolution. Notice that the
field is flooded and ready for the rice plants. (b) This farmer is preparing the
rice paddy using a more traditional method, the water buffalo. The Green Revolution
was a package: high-yield seeds, synthetic fertilizers that required water,
chemical pesticides, and mechanization, especially irrigation. Farmers had to use
the entire package, and use it correctly, to achieve the yields that scientists
produced in their experimental plots back at the laboratory. And, indeed,
controlled irrigation with the correct fertilizer applications provided yields that
were many times higher than those of traditional varieties of local seeds. In this
manner, the Green Revolution brought peasant farmers into the global economy,
creating, for better or worse, relationships of interdependency over which they now
have little control. This change constituted a fundamental shift in the farming
economy and culture that had existed for thousands of years.

37-2
The Green Revolution had several positive effects on human populations and the
environment, including increased crop productivity, decreased world hunger, and the
more efficient use of agricultural land. Imagine a small village of subsistence
farmers in northeastern Thailand with a population of 1500 people who rely on paddy
rice farming and village gardens. Agricultural land is limited, and the population
is increasing. How can the people in the village produce enough food to feed the
growing population? With the introduction of the Green Revolution technologies to
the village, productivity will increase, providing enough food to feed the
villagers plus a small surplus that they can store or sell at the regional market.
Of course, increased crop productivity will not be limited to one small village.
Instead, it will spread across many villages in Asia. Indeed, largely due to the
innovations of the Green Revolution, overall rice production in Asia grew 66
percent between 1965 and 1985. In addition, by the end of the twentieth century,
the Green Revolution led to remarkable increases in cereal production in Mexico,
Central America, and many parts of Asia. Also, the development of rice varieties
that mature faster permitted some farmers to plant three crops per year on the same
land, a practice called multicropping. In this way, the farmers could increase
their individual production considerably. Countries such as Thailand and India also
increased their overall wealth as the increased productivity led to high enough
grain yields to support an export economy.
The Green Revolution’s high-yielding seeds have led to a decrease in world hunger.
Although hunger and famine still persist in some areas, it can be argued that those
problems would be much worse if the Green Revolution had never occurred. The World
Bank, which provided funding and education for many Green Revolution projects,
estimated that in 1950, 55 percent of the people in economically less developed
countries, such as India, China, and the Philippines, experienced hunger. Current
calculations estimate that more than 80 percent of the people living in those
countries now have adequate diets.
Recall that agricultural land covers only about 33.3 percent of the available land
on Earth. Think how difficult it would be to expand the area for planting crops or
raising animals as world populations grow. Much land is classified as arid or
desert, and little agriculture takes place there. Other difficulties include the
encroachment of urban areas onto agricultural land as more people migrate to cities
and suburbs. Rather than expand the amount of land needed for agriculture, the
Green Revolution allowed production to increase on the same acreage.

37-3
While the Green Revolution has had many benefits, radical change almost always has
some negative effects. In the case of the Green Revolution, these negative effects
include the expense of seed, fertilizer, and mechanization; the loss of subsistence
farming, plant diversity, genetic variety, and food security; a highly varied
geographic impact; and the environmental costs of using pesticides, commercial
fertilizers, and irrigation. The Green Revolution illustrates how cultural and
economic factors influence patterns of hierarchical diffusion, which occurs when
ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing
other persons, communities, or rural areas. For example, new high-yield varieties
of rice and wheat seeds were first used in India in 1966. These crops, which
required chemical fertilizers and protection by pesticides, were planted by wealthy
farmers and landowners. However, the great majority of India’s farmers could not
afford the Green Revolution innovations, and the gap between rich farmers and poor
farmers widened. Unable to support themselves from their land, many poor farmers
flocked to the overcrowded cities, aggravating urban problems such as the lack of
housing, clean water, and adequate sanitation. In addition, Green Revolution
technology reduced the need for human labor. The farmers who were displaced from
their lands often could not find work on the larger commercial farms, where most of
the labor was performed by machinery. At the same time, they were ill equipped to
find good jobs in the crowded cities. This problem is not unique to India. Similar
problems occurred in Latin America and other parts of Asia, where poor farmers lost
their lands to high debt and became migrant laborers or moved to the cities, where
they became part of the urban poor. The change from planting and harvesting a
single crop each year to two or even three harvests also led to a labor crisis in
Thailand. Traditionally, whole families worked to plant and harvest the rice
(Figure 37.6), including those who had left the village to work in urban areas.
Most returned to the villages to help with the planting of the rice plants, the
most labor-intensive part of the process. However, returning home to help in the
rice paddies twice a year was generally not an option, causing a labor shortage at
these critical times. The fact that mechanized planting equipment was often
unaffordable to small farmers added to their difficulties. Unable to compete with
the wealthier farmers, poor farmers sold or lost their land through debt and became
members of the landless poor, negatively impacting the social fabric of the
village. Figure 37.6 Families and villagers working in a rice paddy. (a)
Traditional planting of rice took place at the beginning of the rainy season to
take advantage of the water needed to flood the rice paddies. Green Revolution
technology allowed one crop to be planted as usual, with second or third plantings
taking place during the dry season using irrigated water. (b) Young children are
expected to help in the rice paddies as soon as they are old enough. In this photo,
a Thai father and his children are walking to the paddies.
The Green Revolution created a “new” agriculture, a change from subsistence farming
to commercial farming that dramatically affected rural populations. Although it
brought an increase in crop productivity that reduced hunger, that increase also
brought changes in land-use patterns, land ownership arrangements, and agricultural
labor conditions in rural villages in Latin America, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
For example, Latin America now grows a huge amount of cash crops, such as coffee,
that it exports to countries such as the United States. The expansion of cash
crops, along with wealthier farmers’ desire for additional land on which to grow
these crops, pushed subsistence farmers to marginal lands where, despite the
advances in high-yield seeds, crop production for local consumption decreased.
Also, in areas where Green Revolution technology was adopted, the production of
cereal crops increased for both domestic and foreign markets, but subsistence
farmers remained relatively small and dependent on traditional seeds and labor to
grow crops for their own use. In addition, there are concerns that the loss of
traditional and subsistence agriculture has decreased crop diversity. Subsistence
farmers practiced multiple-crop intensive gardening by planting locally adapted
native crop varieties that provided diversity and balance in food products. Growing
many hardy varieties of a single crop guaranteed some yield even in years with bad
weather, disease, or pest problems. Large-scale planting of a single variety of
Green Revolution plants that are not pest resistant, rather than many different
varieties, makes crops vulnerable to infestations of pests for which pesticides
have not yet been developed. The loss of crop diversity is also associated with the
loss of traditional native crop varieties. Before high-yield seeds diffused around
the world, each farm community developed and exchanged its own distinctive seed
types through the annual harvest-time practice of saving seeds from the better
plants for the next season’s sowing. Enormous genetic diversity vanished almost
instantly when farmers began purchasing high-yield seeds rather than saving seed
from the last harvest. As a result, the number of diverse food crops has decreased,
endangering food security not only for villages but also for larger regions. To
offset possible catastrophic loss of food crops that would impact global food
security, seed banks have been set up to preserve what remains of domesticated
plant variety, not just in the areas affected by the Green Revolution but also in
the American Corn Belt and many other agricultural regions where high-yield
varieties are now dominant.
The geographical impact of the Green Revolution has been highly varied, and its
focus on wheat, rice, and corn meant that it had only a limited impact throughout
Africa. Agriculture in much of Africa is based on different crops, such as cassava,
a root vegetable native to South America that diffused to Africa during the
Columbian Exchange (Figure 37.7). Cassava ground into a flour-like powder is a
staple in many African diets. Another crop important to people in parts of Africa
is sorghum, a grain plant, with leaves similar to the leaves on a corn plant.
Sorghum originated in northeast Africa (Figure 37.8). Figure 37.7 Cassava showing
tubers after harvest. Cassava is an important part of the diet in many parts of
sub-Saharan Africa. The tubers are ground to a powder that is then used in
preparing foods. In the western world, cassava is a source of tapioca. Figure 37.8
Mature sorghum growing in an African field. Sorghum is a grain endemic to sub-
Saharan Africa that has similarities to the corn plant. Sorghum was domesticated in
Africa and remains an important part of the African diet. Soil fertility in Africa
is another challenge. African soil naturally has lower fertility than soils in Asia
and other regions, making Africa less attractive to foreign investment for the
development of high-yield seed varieties. Other environmental constraints for
Africa are pests and plant diseases endemic to Africa. Endemic means native to or
characteristic of a certain environment. Traditional seed varieties that African
farmers have used for many years produce plants that often have a built-in
resistance to the pests and diseases characteristic of Africa. We have seen that
seeds can be developed that produce disease- and pest-resistant rice plants in
Asia. But similar experiments with African plants have not been successful. The
genetically engineered varieties often lack the natural resistance to diseases and
pests in the African environment, and they fail within a couple of years. However,
the situation is improving slowly. Recently, Green Revolution scientists have
improved food production in some areas of Africa, such as Gambia, where rice is a
dietary staple. Natural wetlands have been converted to irrigated agricultural
lands, allowing for year-round production of rice.
The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the land has led to environmental
damage and health problems. Specifically, there is growing concern that Green
Revolution techniques have led to reduced organic matter in the soil and to
groundwater pollution. Farm workers are exposed to poisonous chemicals each time
they use these chemicals, which can make them sick. They are also exposed to
environmental contamination, the chemical residue that builds up with each
application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Some scientists are concerned
that using pesticides and developing pesticide-resistant plants will lead to the
evolution of superpests. Along with the high economic costs of irrigation projects,
there are also environmental costs. There are two significant downsides to
irrigation: soil salinity and groundwater depletion. Soil salinization is the
concentration of dissolved salts in the soil, and high soil salinity results from
poor irrigation practices in areas with poor drainage. The salts are toxic to most
plants and soil organisms. They have a serious effect on the productivity of land,
as salty soils can support very little life other than a few salt-tolerant grasses
and shrubs (Figure 37.9). The second downside to irrigation is groundwater
depletion. The large volume of water required for Green Revolution irrigation has
led to a severe decrease in groundwater in areas of irrigated land, many in
tropical wet and dry and humid subtropical climates. Figure 37.9 Damage to rice
plant from high soil salinity. The rice plants are showing signs of damage from
soil salinity due to improper irrigation techniques. The plants with yellow-colored
leaves will not survive to maturity. Thus, productivity decreases in this rice
paddy. AP® Exam Tip Pollution was an environmental impact of the Green Revolution.
Be prepared to give specific explanations of the positive and negative impacts of
the Green Revolution. The need for water to irrigate agricultural crops conflicts
with growing needs to supply water to increasing urban populations and the water
needed for manufacturing in economically developing countries, leading to serious
concerns about present and future water scarcity. Water scarcity is not only a
concern in economically developing countries; it is a global concern that affects
everyone. Think about what your life would be like if you did not have enough water
to drink or with which to take a shower. Sometimes areas in the United States have
temporary water restrictions due to long periods without rain, but severe
groundwater depletion is a much longer-term issue not only in the United States but
also across the world. In addition to the direct environmental costs related to
pesticides, commercial fertilizers, and poor irrigation practices, there is growing
concern based on studies in the Philippines that global warming may threaten the
expanding food base necessary to feed the still-growing population. In the
Philippines, rice yields have dropped by 10 percent for each degree Celsius of
nighttime temperature rise. Since 1980, night temperatures in the tropical and
subtropical regions have registered a 1.1 degree Celsius increase. While this
increase may seem small, agricultural crops are affected by seemingly minor
environmental changes such as increases or decreases in air temperature, sunlight,
or rainfall. Important knowledge of the role of agriculture in producing food
across all geographical scales from local to global has been gained through the
work of Green Revolution scientists, who continue to find innovative new ways to
feed the world’s growing population. Even with positive increases in productivity,
there are some reasons for concern—particularly the increasing global population.
Fortunately, the United Nations predicts that even with the growing population,
food supplies will continue to outpace population growth into the year 2030. While
Green Revolution scientists continue to find innovative new ways to feed the
world’s growing population, the question remains: will we be able to produce enough
food to feed the world population in the later part of the twenty-first century?
Farmers who adopted Green Revolution high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation
techniques have shifted their focus from subsistence agriculture to commercial
agriculture, a topic we explore in the next Module as we look at agricultural
production regions and the commercialization of agriculture.