(The Third Agricultural Revolution) And Biotechnology THE

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THE GREEN REVOLUTION

• (The Third Agricultural Revolution)
• And Biotechnology

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THOMAS MALTHUS

• 19th century economist
• Believed that because population grows
  geometrically and food production arithmetically
  famine was inevitable.
• Slowing the growth of population was the only
  possibility to prevent starvation

History (so far) has proven Malthus wrong . . .
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INCREASE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION PER CAPITA
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GREEN REVOLUTION
A complex of improvements which greatly increased
agricultural production

• Adoption of new, improved varieties of grains
• Application of better agricultural techniques
• Irrigation
• Mechanization
• Use of fertilizer
• Use of pesticides

• Since 1950s
• Greatest effect felt in LDCs
• Agricultural output outpaced population growth
  even without adding additional cropland

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Principal Beneficiaries of the Green Revolution

• RICE
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Korea
• Indonesia

• WHEAT
• Mexico
• Egypt
• Turkey

• BOTH
• India
• China
• Pakistan

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Golden RiceTHE GREAT YELLOW HOPE

• In 1982, the Rockefeller Foundation funded
  research into rice varieties to promote global
  health
• Nutritionally enhanced rice
• Used a daffodil gene
• Rice now produces beta-carotene
• The body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A
• Blindness in LDCs is caused by vitamin A
  deficiencies
• Time Magazine declares This rice could save a
  million kids a year.
• Greenpeace acknowledged Golden rice is a moral
  challenge to our position.

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Golden RiceTHE GREAT YELLOW HYPE

• An 11 year-old child would need to eat 15 pounds
  of golden rice a day to satisfy the minimum daily
  requirement of vitamin A
• Conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A requires
  fat and protein in the diet (these are lacking in
  LDCs)
• Asians may not want to eat golden rice they
  prefer white rice over the more nutrient rich
  brown rice which has always existed
• Education to push golden rice costs money why
  not just hand out vitamin A?
• Golden rice cost more than 100 million to
  develop it is just a PR stunt for genetically
  altered foods

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Green Revolutionbenefits

• Core exports high-yield miracle seeds
• Needed oil-based fertilizers, pesticides
• Asian rice crop up 66 in 1965-85
• Favored areas with good soil, weather

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Green Revolution

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Green Revolutiondrawbacks

• Favored farmers who could afford seeds,
• inputs, machines, irrigation
• Indebted farmers lost land, moved to cities
• New monocrops lacked resistance to
  disease/pests
• Environmental contamination, erosion
• Oriented to export cash crops, not domestic food

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Biotechnology Using organisms to

• Make or modify products
• Improve plants or animals
• Develop new microorganisms
• Crossing natural divides between species
• Not just crossbreeding

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Genetic Engineering
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Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
Consumer concerns began in Europe, now in U.S.
too
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FRANKENFOODS
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Biotechnologybenefits in agriculture

• Increase yields
• Increase pest resistance
• Grow crops in new areas

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Biotechnologydrawbacks in agriculture

• High costs (available to few)
• Monocrops have less tolerance to disease
• Possible health effects
• Contamination of wild crops (superweeds)
• Corporate patents on life forms

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Bovine GrowthHormone (BGH)
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Starlink corn
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Cloning
First calf cloned in Wisconsin, 1997. Many
clones die of complications. Ethical
and economic conflicts
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San Francisco Farmers Market
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Minneapolis airport flower stand