Author: Kenneth Dahlberg
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461329108
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
This book, which is the result of an intellectual odyssey, began as an attempt to explore and map the environmental and cross-cultural dimensions of the continuing spread of the green revolution-that package of high-yielding varieties of grain, fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides that constitutes the core of modern industrial agriculture. In the process of traversing the terrain of several intellectual traditions and cutting through various disciplinary forests and thickets, a number of striking observations were made-all leading to two sober ing conclusions. First, most intellectual maps dealing with agriculture fail to recognize it as the basic interface between human societies and their environment. Because of this, they are little better than the "flat earth" maps of earlier centuries in helping to understand global realities. Second, when agriculture is analyzed from a global perspec tive that takes evolution seriously, one sees that the ecological risks as well as the energy and social costs of modern industrial agriculture make it largely inappropriate for developing countries. Beyond that, one can see a great need within industrialized countries to develop less costly, less risky, and more sustainable agricultural alternatives. Early in the journey it became clear that conventional disciplinary approaches were inadequate to comprehend the scope and diversity of global agriculture and that a new multilevel approach was needed. It also became clear that any new approach would have to try to correct certain Western biases and blind spots.
Beyond the Green Revolution
Author: Kenneth Dahlberg
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461329108
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
This book, which is the result of an intellectual odyssey, began as an attempt to explore and map the environmental and cross-cultural dimensions of the continuing spread of the green revolution-that package of high-yielding varieties of grain, fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides that constitutes the core of modern industrial agriculture. In the process of traversing the terrain of several intellectual traditions and cutting through various disciplinary forests and thickets, a number of striking observations were made-all leading to two sober ing conclusions. First, most intellectual maps dealing with agriculture fail to recognize it as the basic interface between human societies and their environment. Because of this, they are little better than the "flat earth" maps of earlier centuries in helping to understand global realities. Second, when agriculture is analyzed from a global perspec tive that takes evolution seriously, one sees that the ecological risks as well as the energy and social costs of modern industrial agriculture make it largely inappropriate for developing countries. Beyond that, one can see a great need within industrialized countries to develop less costly, less risky, and more sustainable agricultural alternatives. Early in the journey it became clear that conventional disciplinary approaches were inadequate to comprehend the scope and diversity of global agriculture and that a new multilevel approach was needed. It also became clear that any new approach would have to try to correct certain Western biases and blind spots.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461329108
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
This book, which is the result of an intellectual odyssey, began as an attempt to explore and map the environmental and cross-cultural dimensions of the continuing spread of the green revolution-that package of high-yielding varieties of grain, fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides that constitutes the core of modern industrial agriculture. In the process of traversing the terrain of several intellectual traditions and cutting through various disciplinary forests and thickets, a number of striking observations were made-all leading to two sober ing conclusions. First, most intellectual maps dealing with agriculture fail to recognize it as the basic interface between human societies and their environment. Because of this, they are little better than the "flat earth" maps of earlier centuries in helping to understand global realities. Second, when agriculture is analyzed from a global perspec tive that takes evolution seriously, one sees that the ecological risks as well as the energy and social costs of modern industrial agriculture make it largely inappropriate for developing countries. Beyond that, one can see a great need within industrialized countries to develop less costly, less risky, and more sustainable agricultural alternatives. Early in the journey it became clear that conventional disciplinary approaches were inadequate to comprehend the scope and diversity of global agriculture and that a new multilevel approach was needed. It also became clear that any new approach would have to try to correct certain Western biases and blind spots.
50 Years of Green Revolution
Author: M. S. Swaminathan
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9813200073
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
The green revolution in India about 50 years ago transformed India's image then as begging bowl to bread basket. This transformation during the 1960s took just about 4 years. The yield increases achieved in wheat and then in rice which occurred in just about half decade is far in excess of the yield increases during the preceding 4000 years. This remarkable feat was achieved with the leadership of the author using the dwarf wheat types which had been produced by Norman Borlaug in Mexico. The research and development of green revolution of wheat and rice at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi was led by the author along with his team of students and co-workers. He has published over 100 papers on green revolution and the ever-green revolution which is a refinement of the former. This book is a compilation of just about 40 of his numerous research papers, monographs and books published by him on this subject. The papers in this book bring out the scientific basis of the modification of the plant type so as to be responsive to exogenous addition of chemical fertilizers and irrigation. The ideal plant type enables capture of adequate sunlight and using the chemical fertilizers added to the soil, produce substantial photosynthetic starch. And because the plants have short and thick culm, they are able to withstand enormous amounts of grains in their ears. This indeed was the basis of breaking the yield barriers associated with native varieties. The book also brings out that green revolution had established the food security at the national level but not at the individual household levels of millions of resource-poor rural small and marginal farming, fishing and landless families. Further green revolution was commodity-centric and the manner of its practice led to environmental degradation and social inequities. This author realized as early as 1972 that system of agriculture in India should be designed to fight both the famines of food and rural livelihoods. In pursuit of it, this author further designed an evergreen revolution with systems approach. What this means is providing concurrent attention to ecological foundations of agriculture and the livelihoods of the rural people. The book also brings out that green revolution was a team effort involving scientists, policy makers, administrators, farmers and students. This book is an outstanding example of green revolution providing a breathing space by putting the cereal grain production rate ahead of the population growth rate and then when food security has been adequately established, the system is changed to achieve productivity in perpetuity without causing environmental and social harm.
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9813200073
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
The green revolution in India about 50 years ago transformed India's image then as begging bowl to bread basket. This transformation during the 1960s took just about 4 years. The yield increases achieved in wheat and then in rice which occurred in just about half decade is far in excess of the yield increases during the preceding 4000 years. This remarkable feat was achieved with the leadership of the author using the dwarf wheat types which had been produced by Norman Borlaug in Mexico. The research and development of green revolution of wheat and rice at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi was led by the author along with his team of students and co-workers. He has published over 100 papers on green revolution and the ever-green revolution which is a refinement of the former. This book is a compilation of just about 40 of his numerous research papers, monographs and books published by him on this subject. The papers in this book bring out the scientific basis of the modification of the plant type so as to be responsive to exogenous addition of chemical fertilizers and irrigation. The ideal plant type enables capture of adequate sunlight and using the chemical fertilizers added to the soil, produce substantial photosynthetic starch. And because the plants have short and thick culm, they are able to withstand enormous amounts of grains in their ears. This indeed was the basis of breaking the yield barriers associated with native varieties. The book also brings out that green revolution had established the food security at the national level but not at the individual household levels of millions of resource-poor rural small and marginal farming, fishing and landless families. Further green revolution was commodity-centric and the manner of its practice led to environmental degradation and social inequities. This author realized as early as 1972 that system of agriculture in India should be designed to fight both the famines of food and rural livelihoods. In pursuit of it, this author further designed an evergreen revolution with systems approach. What this means is providing concurrent attention to ecological foundations of agriculture and the livelihoods of the rural people. The book also brings out that green revolution was a team effort involving scientists, policy makers, administrators, farmers and students. This book is an outstanding example of green revolution providing a breathing space by putting the cereal grain production rate ahead of the population growth rate and then when food security has been adequately established, the system is changed to achieve productivity in perpetuity without causing environmental and social harm.
Understanding Green Revolutions
Author: Bertram Hughes Farmer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521249423
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
This book is a critical examination of the truth behind the stereotype that there is a Green Revolution in agricultural technology. Twenty-one specialists in the field of development studies look at the reality of agrarian change, either through historical analysis, or through in-depth village field-work, or from their experience as development planners.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521249423
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
This book is a critical examination of the truth behind the stereotype that there is a Green Revolution in agricultural technology. Twenty-one specialists in the field of development studies look at the reality of agrarian change, either through historical analysis, or through in-depth village field-work, or from their experience as development planners.
The Violence of the Green Revolution
Author: Vandana Shiva
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813166810
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 266
Book Description
The Green Revolution has been heralded as a political and technological achievement—unprecedented in human history. Yet in the decades that have followed it, this supposedly nonviolent revolution has left lands ravaged by violence and ecological scarcity. A dedicated empiricist, Vandana Shiva takes a magnifying glass to the effects of the Green Revolution in India, examining the devastating effects of monoculture and commercial agriculture and revealing the nuanced relationship between ecological destruction and poverty. In this classic work, the influential activist and scholar also looks to the future as she examines new developments in gene technology.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813166810
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 266
Book Description
The Green Revolution has been heralded as a political and technological achievement—unprecedented in human history. Yet in the decades that have followed it, this supposedly nonviolent revolution has left lands ravaged by violence and ecological scarcity. A dedicated empiricist, Vandana Shiva takes a magnifying glass to the effects of the Green Revolution in India, examining the devastating effects of monoculture and commercial agriculture and revealing the nuanced relationship between ecological destruction and poverty. In this classic work, the influential activist and scholar also looks to the future as she examines new developments in gene technology.
The Gene Revolution
Author: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136553843
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
Whether or not to embrace GM technologies is a fundamental and politically charged question facing humanity in the 21st century, particularly in light of rapidly growing populations and the unknown future impacts of climate change. The Gene Revolution is the first book to bridge the gap between thenaysayers andcheerleaders and look at the issues and complexities facing developing and transitional countries over decisions about GM in light of the reality of what is happening on the ground. The first part of the volume looks at the rise of GM crops, commercialization and spread of the technology and the different positions of the USA and the European Union on the GM question and the effect of global markets. The second part consists of country perspectives from Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa, which provide insight into the profound challenges these countries face and the hard choices that have to be made. The final part takes the analysis a step further by comparing developing and transitional country experiences, and charts a future course for government policy on GM that supports growth, sustainability and equity for the many billions of people affected worldwide.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136553843
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
Whether or not to embrace GM technologies is a fundamental and politically charged question facing humanity in the 21st century, particularly in light of rapidly growing populations and the unknown future impacts of climate change. The Gene Revolution is the first book to bridge the gap between thenaysayers andcheerleaders and look at the issues and complexities facing developing and transitional countries over decisions about GM in light of the reality of what is happening on the ground. The first part of the volume looks at the rise of GM crops, commercialization and spread of the technology and the different positions of the USA and the European Union on the GM question and the effect of global markets. The second part consists of country perspectives from Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa, which provide insight into the profound challenges these countries face and the hard choices that have to be made. The final part takes the analysis a step further by comparing developing and transitional country experiences, and charts a future course for government policy on GM that supports growth, sustainability and equity for the many billions of people affected worldwide.
The Green Revolution in the Global South
Author: R. Douglas Hurt
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817320512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
A synthesis of the agricultural history of the Green Revolution The Green Revolution was devised to increase agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world. Agriculturalists employed anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizing agents, mechanical tilling, hybridized seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and a multitude of other techniques to increase yields and feed a mushrooming human population that would otherwise suffer starvation as the world’s food supply dwindled. In The Green Revolution in the Global South: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences, R. Douglas Hurt demonstrates that the Green Revolution did not turn out as neatly as scientists predicted. When its methods and products were imported to places like Indonesia and Nigeria, or even replicated indigenously, the result was a tumultuous impact on a society’s functioning. A range of factors—including cultural practices, ethnic and religious barriers, cost and availability of new technologies, climate, rainfall and aridity, soil quality, the scale of landholdings, political policies and opportunism, the rise of industrial farms, civil unrest, indigenous diseases, and corruption—entered into the Green Revolution calculus, producing a series of unintended consequences that varied from place to place. As the Green Revolution played out over time, these consequences rippled throughout societies, affecting environments, economies, political structures, and countless human lives. Analyzing change over time, almost decade by decade, Hurt shows that the Green Revolution was driven by the state as well as science. Rather than acknowledge the vast problems with the Green Revolution or explore other models, Hurt argues, scientists and political leaders doubled down and repeated the same missteps in the name of humanity and food security. In tracing the permutations of modern science’s impact on international agricultural systems, Hurt documents how, beyond increasing yields, the Green Revolution affected social orders, politics, and lifestyles in every place its methods were applied—usually far more than once.
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817320512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
A synthesis of the agricultural history of the Green Revolution The Green Revolution was devised to increase agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world. Agriculturalists employed anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizing agents, mechanical tilling, hybridized seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and a multitude of other techniques to increase yields and feed a mushrooming human population that would otherwise suffer starvation as the world’s food supply dwindled. In The Green Revolution in the Global South: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences, R. Douglas Hurt demonstrates that the Green Revolution did not turn out as neatly as scientists predicted. When its methods and products were imported to places like Indonesia and Nigeria, or even replicated indigenously, the result was a tumultuous impact on a society’s functioning. A range of factors—including cultural practices, ethnic and religious barriers, cost and availability of new technologies, climate, rainfall and aridity, soil quality, the scale of landholdings, political policies and opportunism, the rise of industrial farms, civil unrest, indigenous diseases, and corruption—entered into the Green Revolution calculus, producing a series of unintended consequences that varied from place to place. As the Green Revolution played out over time, these consequences rippled throughout societies, affecting environments, economies, political structures, and countless human lives. Analyzing change over time, almost decade by decade, Hurt shows that the Green Revolution was driven by the state as well as science. Rather than acknowledge the vast problems with the Green Revolution or explore other models, Hurt argues, scientists and political leaders doubled down and repeated the same missteps in the name of humanity and food security. In tracing the permutations of modern science’s impact on international agricultural systems, Hurt documents how, beyond increasing yields, the Green Revolution affected social orders, politics, and lifestyles in every place its methods were applied—usually far more than once.
Green Revolution
Author: Ben Lowe
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830878211
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
We are facing planet-sized challenges. Climate change and environmental crises can be pretty immobilizing, and we can fall into the temptation of thinking that we can't make a difference. But it's not just about what we can do on our own to make a difference. It's about what we can do when we mobilize together as a movement and combine for community action. Activist Ben Lowe calls the present generation to come together and care for the earth in a way that recent generations have not. Telling real-life stories of community organizing on college campuses across the nation, Lowe shows us that little things can make a big difference when we all work together. We now have an opportunity to show the world what it looks like when Christians care for the planet God gave us, so that future generations can live sustainably. This is our moment. This is our issue. Come join the green revolution.
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830878211
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
We are facing planet-sized challenges. Climate change and environmental crises can be pretty immobilizing, and we can fall into the temptation of thinking that we can't make a difference. But it's not just about what we can do on our own to make a difference. It's about what we can do when we mobilize together as a movement and combine for community action. Activist Ben Lowe calls the present generation to come together and care for the earth in a way that recent generations have not. Telling real-life stories of community organizing on college campuses across the nation, Lowe shows us that little things can make a big difference when we all work together. We now have an opportunity to show the world what it looks like when Christians care for the planet God gave us, so that future generations can live sustainably. This is our moment. This is our issue. Come join the green revolution.
Red Revolution, Green Revolution
Author: Sigrid Schmalzer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022633029X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
In 1968, the director of USAID coined the term “green revolution” to celebrate the new technological solutions that promised to ease hunger around the world—and forestall the spread of more “red,” or socialist, revolutions. Yet in China, where modernization and scientific progress could not be divorced from politics, green and red revolutions proceeded side by side. In Red Revolution, Green Revolution, Sigrid Schmalzer explores the intersection of politics and agriculture in socialist China through the diverse experiences of scientists, peasants, state agents, and “educated youth.” The environmental costs of chemical-intensive agriculture and the human costs of emphasizing increasing production over equitable distribution of food and labor have been felt as strongly in China as anywhere—and yet, as Schmalzer shows, Mao-era challenges to technocracy laid important groundwork for today’s sustainability and food justice movements. This history of “scientific farming” in China offers us a unique opportunity not only to explore the consequences of modern agricultural technologies but also to engage in a necessary rethinking of fundamental assumptions about science and society.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022633029X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
In 1968, the director of USAID coined the term “green revolution” to celebrate the new technological solutions that promised to ease hunger around the world—and forestall the spread of more “red,” or socialist, revolutions. Yet in China, where modernization and scientific progress could not be divorced from politics, green and red revolutions proceeded side by side. In Red Revolution, Green Revolution, Sigrid Schmalzer explores the intersection of politics and agriculture in socialist China through the diverse experiences of scientists, peasants, state agents, and “educated youth.” The environmental costs of chemical-intensive agriculture and the human costs of emphasizing increasing production over equitable distribution of food and labor have been felt as strongly in China as anywhere—and yet, as Schmalzer shows, Mao-era challenges to technocracy laid important groundwork for today’s sustainability and food justice movements. This history of “scientific farming” in China offers us a unique opportunity not only to explore the consequences of modern agricultural technologies but also to engage in a necessary rethinking of fundamental assumptions about science and society.
Rural Asia
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural development projects
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
An economic transformation has occurred in much of rural Asia during the last 2 decades. Large parts of the region have made remarkable progress with substantial gains in food security, per capita income, quality of life, and poverty reduction. Yet, rural Asia remains home to 700 million people living in poverty, many of whom have no access to safe water and sanitation. To explore new opportunities and challenges facing rural society in Asia, a study of rural Asia was undertaken by ADB. The main results and recommendations contained in the five volumes have been included in the overview and should prove useful to those concerned with improving the economic and social conditions of rural populations in Asia through sustainable development.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural development projects
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
An economic transformation has occurred in much of rural Asia during the last 2 decades. Large parts of the region have made remarkable progress with substantial gains in food security, per capita income, quality of life, and poverty reduction. Yet, rural Asia remains home to 700 million people living in poverty, many of whom have no access to safe water and sanitation. To explore new opportunities and challenges facing rural society in Asia, a study of rural Asia was undertaken by ADB. The main results and recommendations contained in the five volumes have been included in the overview and should prove useful to those concerned with improving the economic and social conditions of rural populations in Asia through sustainable development.
The Future of Genetically Modified Crops
Author: Felicia Wu
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833040510
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 115
Book Description
The world is now on the cusp of a new agricultural revolution, the so-called Gene Revolution, in which genetically modified (GM) crops are tailored to address chronic agricultural problems in certain regions of the world. This monograph report investigates the circumstances and processes that can induce and sustain this new agricultural revolution. The authors compare the Green Revolution of the 20th century with the GM crop movement to assess the agricultural, technological, sociological, and political differences between the two movements.
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833040510
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 115
Book Description
The world is now on the cusp of a new agricultural revolution, the so-called Gene Revolution, in which genetically modified (GM) crops are tailored to address chronic agricultural problems in certain regions of the world. This monograph report investigates the circumstances and processes that can induce and sustain this new agricultural revolution. The authors compare the Green Revolution of the 20th century with the GM crop movement to assess the agricultural, technological, sociological, and political differences between the two movements.