1. By Laura Seifert, Stephanie Weiss, Brett Hanaford, Fiona Brechtmann
Green Revolution
By Laura Seifert, Stephanie Weiss, Brett Hanaford, Fiona Brechtmann

2. What is the “green revolution?”
Series of research, development, and technology initiatives that increased agricultural production around the world
-set forth between 1940 and late 1970s
Rockefeller and Ford foundations
-took lead in establishing international agriculture research system
-system helped transfer and adapt scientific advances to conditions in developing countries
First investments were in research of rice and wheat (important to developing countries)

3. Why was it needed?
By the 19th century, there was growing pessimism- possibilities of feeding ever- growing population
-writings of Thomas Malthus ( )
By mid-1960s, hunger and malnutrition were widespread, especially in Asia
-increasingly depended on food aid from rich countries

4. The goal Achieve higher yields for rice and wheat
-develop plants that were more responsive to plant nutrients
-develop varieties that could mature quickly and grow at anytime of the year
-more varieties need to be resistant to major pests and diseases
-produce high yielding varieties (HYVs)

5. Impacts on Agricultural Production
By 1970, about 20% of the wheat area and 30% of the rice area in developing countries were planted to HYVs
By 1990, the share had increased to about 70% for both rice and wheat
With faster-growing varieties and irrigation, more crops were grown each year
These changes more than doubled cereal production in Asia
The overall price of wheat and rice was going down

6. Social Impacts
There were sizable increases in returns to land which raised farmers’ incomes.
Real per capita incomes in Asia nearly doubled
Poverty declined from nearly 3 out of every 5 Asians in 1975 to less than 1 in 3 by 1995.
Overall number of people on poverty fell from 1.15 billion in 1975 to 825 million in 1995.
Contributed to better nutrition by raising incomes and reducing prices

7. Problems/Criticisms
Green Revolution-environmental degradation and increased income inequality
Owners of large farms more likely to adopt green revolution
-access to irrigation water, fertilizer, seeds, and credit
small farms unaffected/harmed (eventually were able to adopt technologies and benefit from them)
-lower product prices, higher input prices, and efforts by landlords to increase rents/force tenants off the land
Encouraged unnecessary mechanisms
-pushed down rural wages/employment

8. Conditions to counteract problems
#1:a scale neutral technology package that can be profitably adopted on farms of all sizes
#2: an equitable distribution of land with secure ownership or tenancy rights
#3: efficient input, credit, and product markets so that farms of all sizes have access to modern farm inputs and information and are able to receive similar prices for their products
#4: policies that do not discriminate against small farms and landless laborers
-no subsidies on mechanization and no scale biases in agricultural research and extension

9. Video

10. Work Cited
"Green Revolution ." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 15 Apr Web. 20 Apr <
Hazell, Peter . "Green Revolution-Cure or Blessing?."RHS APES. International Food Policy Research Institute, n.d. Web. 20 Apr <rhsapes.weebly.com/uploads/5/0/1/5/ /green_revolutio n_curse_or_blessing.pdf>.
"HelloBeautiful.com." Top Ten Healthiest Breakfast Cereals. Radio One, 2 Sept Web. 20 Apr < staff/top-10-healthiest-breakfast-cereals/>.
"Population - Fate of the World ." Wikia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 20 Apr <