The Green Revolution A Watershed in Agricultural Production

Industrialization of food production in the Global South  WW II Food shortages  CIMMYT – Chapingo, Mexico  Rockefeller Foundation  Norman Borlaug —1970 Nobel Peace Prize  HYV seeds

PL 480 (Food for Peace)  U.S. grain surpluses dumped on the Global South  The “Green Revolution” to stop the “red” one (communism)

Mexico,  Corn production 250%  Wheat production 8 X  Imported ½ wheat, now self-sufficient  Best results – irrigation districts, limited application to rain-fed lands

Green Revolution Technology: Not Scale Neutral  Socio-political context ignored  U.S. = +land, -labor  Global South = -land, + labor  Increasing scale:  Tractor – requires larger area  HYV – stiff stalk mechanize harvest compact soil more fertilizer

Technological Package  HYV seeds – purchase annually  HYV seeds – require herbicides, pesticides pest resistance pesticide treadmill  25% of banned pesticides are exported  Persistent hydrocarbons (DDT) nonpersistent organophosphates (parathion, paraquat, etc.)

“Technological Efficiency”  Corn:  yields, protein content  labor costs, unemployment  HYV seeds tested under ideal conditions; unsuited to poor soils worked by peasants  Monocrop production – lack of rotation depletes soil  loss of genetic diversity  Loss of traditional seeds that coevolved with their environment  Greater susceptibility to pests

Cost of Fertilizer  1971: fertilizer was cheap  1973: OPEC raised the price of oil  1 T. oil 1 T. ammonia 2-3 T. Fertilizer

Social Differentiation  More wealthy, innovative farmers receive credit, technology  Concentration of land, displacement of peasants  Improved GNP, but failure to improve lives of poor farmers  1970s: Mexico began to import grains

Who Benefits?  TNCs – sale of inputs & outputs  Sales of top 10 agribusinesses exceed the GDP of 21 of the 28 Latin American & Caribbean countries  Progressivist View:  Scientists own the knowledge  Devaluation of indigenous knowledge