Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
geographical impact of the Green Revolution. Research
has already led to methods for producing high-yield cas-
sava and sorghum—both of which are grown in Africa.
Beyond Africa, research on fattening livestock faster and
improving the appearance of fruits is having an impact in
North and South America.
The promise of increasing food production in a
world in which almost a billion people are malnourished
has led many people to support genetically engineered
foods. Others, however, question whether gene manipula-
tion could create health risks and produce environmental
hazards. Environmentalists have speculated about the
impacts of pollen dispersal from genetically modifi ed
plants and the potential for disease-resistant plants to spur
the evolution of super-pests. Moreover, the large-scale
monocropping that is often part of Green Revolution
agriculture can make farms vulnerable to changes in cli-
mate or the infestation of particular pests. One vocal
opponent of the Green Revolution in India, Vandana
Shiva, argues that
genetically modifi ed grains and a virtual monopoly of the
needed chemical inputs can have tremendous power over
the agricultural production process. In addition, the need
for capital from the West to implement Green Revolution
technologies has led to a shift away from production for
local consumers toward export agriculture. In the process,
local places become subject to the vicissitudes of the
global economy, where a downward fl uctuation in the
price of a given crop can create enormous problems for
places dependent on the sale of that crop.
New Genetically Modifi ed Foods
An entire fi eld of biotechnology has sprung up in con-
junction with the Third Agricultural Revolution, and the
development of genetically engineered crops (GE) or
genetically modifi ed organisms (GMOs)
is its principal
target. Since the origin of agriculture, people have experi-
mented with hybrid crops and cross-breeding of animals.
Today, according to the Grocery Manufacturers of
America, genetically modifi ed organisms are found in 75
percent of all processed foods in the United States. The
United States leads the world in the production of geneti-
cally engineered crops, with 88 percent of all acres in corn
(up from 25 percent in 2000) and 94 percent of all acres in
soybeans (up from 54 percent in 2000) sown with geneti-
cally engineered seeds.
Some regions have embraced genetically engineered
crops, and others have banned them. Many of the poorer
countries of the world do not have access to the necessary
capital and technology. Moreover, ideological resistance
to genetically engineered foods is strong in some places—
particularly in western Europe. Agricultural offi cials in
most west European countries have declared genetically
modifi ed foods to be safe, but in many places, the public has
a strong reaction against them based on combined concerns
about health and taste. Such concerns have spread to less
affl uent parts of the world as well. In many poorer regions,
seeds are a cultural commodity, refl ecting agricultural
lessons learned over generations. In these regions, many
resist the invasion of foreign, genetically engineered crops.
[t]he Green Revolution has been a failure. It has led to
reduced genetic diversity, increased vulnerability to pests,
soil erosion, water shortages, reduced soil fertility, micronu-
trient defi ciencies, soil contamination, reduced availability
of nutritious food crops for the local population, the displace-
ment of vast numbers of small farmers from their land,
rural impoverishment and increased tensions and confl icts.
The benefi ciaries have been the agrochemical industry,
large petrochemical companies, manufacturers of agricul-
tural machinery, dam builders and large landowners.
It is no easy matter to weigh the enormous increases in
food production that have occurred in places that have
adopted Green Revolution approaches against the types
of social and environmental issues highlighted by Shiva.
There is growing concern that higher inputs of
chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides associated
with Green Revolution agriculture can lead to reduced
organic matter in the soil and to groundwater pollution.
Moreover, the Green Revolution has worked against
the interest of many small-scale farmers who lack the
resources to acquire genetically enhanced seeds and the
necessary chemical inputs to grow them.
A 2005 report in
Scientifi c American
explains that the
Green Revolution has done little to alleviate poverty in
areas where most farmers still work small plots of land:
“The supply-driven strategies of the Green Revolution,
however, may not help subsistence farmers, who must
play to their strengths to compete in the global market-
place. The average size of a family farm is less than four
acres in India, 1.8 acres in Bangladesh and about half an
acre in China.” Smaller farmers are in a poor competitive
position, and their position is further undermined by the
fact that a few large corporations with the seed patents for
Regional and Local Change
Recent shifts from subsistence agriculture to commercial
agriculture have had dramatic impacts on rural life. Land-
use patterns, land ownership arrangements, and agricul-
tural labor conditions have all changed as rural residents
cope with shifting economic, political, and environmental
conditions. In Latin America, dramatic increases in the
production of export crops (or
cash crops
such as fruits and
coffee) have occurred at the expense of crop production
for local consumption. In the process, subsistence farming
has been pushed to ever more marginal lands. In Asia,
