The problem of providing underdeveloped countries with food, unresolved to this day, did not arise yesterday. Attempts to solve it were constantly made on different levels. In the 40s of the 20th century in the countries Latin America transformations began that were supposed to lead to higher yields, and therefore allow these countries to produce enough agricultural products to meet the needs of their populations. These transformations have been called the Green Revolution. Indeed, significant changes have taken place. Have they become a boon or have they further aggravated the situation of countries in need? We will discuss further.

The term "green revolution" itself was first used in 1968 by W. Goud, director of the US Agency for International Development. With this phrase, he characterized the already visible significant changes in and countries of Asia. And they began with a program adopted in the early 1940s by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Main tasks

The main objectives of the programs in food- needy countries were to:

• breeding new varieties with higher yields that would be resistant to pests and weather phenomena;
• development and improvement of irrigation systems;
• expanding the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, as well as modern agricultural machinery.

« Green revolution» is associated with the name of an American scientist who received in 1970 Nobel Prize for his contribution to solving the food problem. This is Norman Ernest Borlaug. He has been developing new varieties of wheat since the beginning of the new agricultural program in Mexico. As a result of his work, a lodging-resistant variety with a short stem was obtained, and the yield in this country increased 3 times in the first 15 years.

Later, the experience of growing new varieties was adopted by other countries of Latin America, India, Asian countries, and Pakistan. Borlaug, described as "feeding the world," led the International Wheat Improvement Program and later acted as a consultant and lecturer.

Speaking about the changes that the Green Revolution brought, the scientist who stood at its origins himself said that this was only a temporary victory, and recognized both the problems in implementing programs to increase food production in the world, and the obvious environmental damage to the planet.

"Green Revolution" and its consequences

What were the results of the transformations that lasted several decades in different parts Sveta? Some statistics. There is evidence that the number of calories in the daily diet of people in developing countries has increased by 25%, and many attribute this to the achievements that the Green Revolution brought. This was the result of the development of new land and increased yields of rice and wheat in already developed fields in 15 countries. 41 new varieties of wheat were obtained. With an increase in the area of ​​cultivated land by 10-15%, the increase in yield was 50-74%. However, the transformations practically did not affect the needy countries of Africa, including due to the underdevelopment of local infrastructure.

The reverse side of the coin is, first of all, the impact on the biosphere. Traces of the long-banned drug DDT are still found in Antarctica. significant damage was done to the soils, and such intensive use of the fields led to their almost complete depletion. Illiterate installation and maintenance have caused pollution of surface water bodies. Today a resource for further development in this direction is almost exhausted, which means that the severity of the food problem will only increase.

There is also a lot of talk about the fact that, as a result of the Green Revolution, developing countries have become a kind of food colonies. The level of development of agriculture in private farms is still low, and many private farmers have lost fertile land. The question of the impact on human health remains open.

What is the green revolution, its meaning and consequences? How the green revolution is connected with the use of fertilizers and pesticides

The term "Green Revolution" refers to the middle of the 20th century, plus or minus a decade. Primarily characteristic of the West, it means a chain of rather significant changes in agriculture, as a result of which the share of world agricultural production has increased several times.

The green revolution took place in a number of developing countries literally before the eyes of one generation. The introduction of new, more productive varieties of plants, the expansion of irrigation, the use of new types of fertilizers, pesticides and modern agricultural equipment - all that the revolution gave to the agro-industrial complex of the planet.

The term Green Revolution itself was coined by former USAID director William Goud in 1968, when half the world was reaping the labors of the process.

It all started in 1943 in Mexico. It was there that the agricultural program of the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation gained a large scale, thanks to which the development of innovations for agriculture began. The most important agronomist of that time can be called Norman Borlaug, who developed several highly effective varieties of wheat. One of them, with a short stem 9 that prevents wheat from lodging) is used for crops to this day. Thus, by the mid-1950s, Mexico was 100% self-sufficient in grain and was able to start exporting it. The fact that grain yields have tripled in 15 years is entirely the merit of the Green Revolution. The developments used in Mexico were adopted by Colombia, India, and Pakistan. Norman Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

The green revolution continued to spread around the world, mainly among developing countries. Thus, in 1963, on the basis of Mexican research institutions, the International Center for the Improvement of Wheat and Maize Varieties (CIMMYT) was established, which carried out breeding work with the best varieties, significantly improving their yield and survival.

The advantages of the Green Revolution are obvious: thanks to it, the growing population of the Earth remained full, and the quality of life in some areas has increased markedly, because the number of calories in food consumed per day has increased by 25% in developing countries.

The downsides began to show up a bit later. Due to the spread of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, environmental problems began to arise more and more often. The intensification of agriculture has disturbed the water regime of soils, which has caused large-scale salinization and desertification.

Copper and sulfur preparations, which cause soil pollution with heavy metals, were replaced by aromatic, heterocyclic, organochlorine and phosphorus compounds (karbofos, dichlorvos, DDT, etc.) by the middle of the 20th century.

They have an effect at a much lower concentration, which made it possible to reduce the cost of chemical treatment. But many of them turned out to be unpredictably stable and did not decompose in nature for several years.

A striking example of such a drug is DDT. This substance was later found even in animals of Antarctica, thousands of kilometers from the nearest places of application of this chemical.

And another consequence of the Green Revolution is the rapid globalization and the capture of the markets for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and agricultural machinery in developing countries by American companies.

The "Green Revolution" refers to the special processes that were widely developed in third world countries in the middle of the last century. In the 1960s and 1970s, intensive methods of growing grain crops, mainly wheat and rice, began to be actively introduced in the agriculture of a number of developing countries. The main goal of developing and applying new technologies was to solve the problems of malnutrition and hunger.

Norman Barlaug

The first green revolution in the main Mexico owes its development. The government of this particular country, in cooperation with the Rockefeller Foundation, developed and implemented the latest program at that time, which made it possible to significantly increase the profitability of agricultural agricultural enterprises. The project envisaged, first of all, the active use of highly effective mineral fertilizers in the cultivation of plants. The main emphasis was also placed on the development of new high-yielding varieties of wheat. On the last point, Norman Barlaug was especially successful. This experimental breeder developed many high-yielding varieties of wheat. It was thanks to his developments that by 1956 Mexico provided itself with grain in full and even began to export them to other countries.

Subsequently, Barlaug's ideas were taken as the basis for the development of new varieties in countries such as India, Colombia and Pakistan. In 1963, the International Center for the Improvement of Corn and Wheat Varieties began its activities. In 1970, Norman Barlaug was awarded the Nobel Prize for his services to mankind.

Green Revolution in South Asia

New methods of managing made it possible to provide their own population with food in full to many poor states of America and South Asia. The Green Revolution in India, for example, was a particularly successful one. This country managed to achieve not only self-sufficiency in food, but also take the 3rd place in the production of rice and wheat in the world (after China and the USA).

Reasons for failure

However, unfortunately, in general, the problem of hunger in the third world countries has not been solved by the introduction of intensive technologies. The population of most underdeveloped states in the Green Revolution zone continued to be undernourished. The main reasons for the failure of innovations were the high cost of grain and the lack of money. As soon as it began, the green revolution faded away in most developing countries. Due to a lack of funds, many large agricultural enterprises in poor countries have again returned to extensive methods of farming. Small ones, in most cases, did not even have time to start introducing new technologies for growing grain.

The failure of the first green revolution in agriculture was not only due to the poverty of the third world countries. The very method of increasing the efficiency of land use by artificial enrichment of soils chemical fertilizers turned out not to be very successful. Intensive technologies management, despite the observance of scientific standards, nevertheless led to the depletion and erosion of previously fertile soils. The possibilities of increasing yields with the help of nitrates (in addition, they are also harmful to human health) were soon completely exhausted.

New wave

The doubt that intensive methods will help solve the problem of hunger on Earth was expressed by Norman Barlaug himself when receiving the Nobel Prize. Indeed, scientists still had to develop other technologies to improve the efficiency of agricultural production. This process has been called the "second green revolution". As a result of scientific research, many discoveries were made in its course. A huge achievement, for example, can be called the study and description of such processes as vernalization and photoperiodism.

Contribution of V. I. Vavilov

In our country, during the second green revolution, researchers showed great interest in the geography of distribution edible plants. Research in this area has made it possible to achieve an increase in the yield of grain and other crops without such serious consequences as soil depletion. Knowledge of the conditions under which this or that plant develops better has made it possible - by crossing geographically distant species - to develop many new regionalized varieties adapted to the climate of specific regions. The main work in this regard was done in Russia by the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing under the guidance of the famous plant breeder N. I. Vavilov.

The Green Revolution and Its Consequences: The Positives

Both waves of widespread introduction of new technologies have solved the problem of food security huge amount of people. Numerous high-yielding varieties. Gardeners and gardeners middle lane Russia, for example, got an excellent opportunity to grow southern heat-loving crops (apricots, grapes, etc.) on their plots. The yields of cereals, potatoes, sunflowers, vegetables, etc. have grown.

The Problems Caused by the First Green Revolutions

However, these large-scale processes had a lot of not too pleasant consequences. These include:

• pollution of soil and water with pesticides and heavy metals;
• growing energy intensity of agriculture;
• declining food quality;
• an increase in the amount of nitrates harmful to health in vegetables and fruits.

third wave

At the end of the last century, a new, third green revolution began and continues to this day. In view of the mistakes made in the past, its main objectives were taken to be:

• abandoning the mass use of chemicals and replacing them with biogenic fertilizers;
• the development of genetic engineering, by which methods it is possible to create not only new varieties, but also new plant species;
• development of varieties resistant to diseases and pests;
• avoiding the use of pesticides to control insects and microorganisms.

According to the new direction, the application chemicals for the prevention and cure of plant diseases will be gradually replaced by narrowly focused biological methods:

• breeding natural enemies of the pathogen;
• providing good conditions for nesting insectivorous birds;
• using poultry to clean gardens from pests;
• use of pheromones and hormones to repel insects.

Of course, the goals of the initiators of the third green revolution, and this time only good ones. However, some new techniques can cause not only skepticism (in relation to the item about poultry, for example), but even serious criticism when it comes to genetic engineering. After all, it is completely unknown what gross interference with the natural processes of plant development can lead to, and how all this can affect people's health.

However, there is nothing left for humanity to do but hope that this time the green revolution will end successfully. It seems that the use of genetically modified plants in food is the only way to solve the food problem. At least, this is what many modern scientists think.

The need for a "green revolution" in developing countries was caused, first of all, by the small amount of land and large quantity population. Such an imbalance threatened mass death of people from starvation. At that time it was necessary to take some constructive solution acute problem of hunger.

The "Green Revolution" began in Mexico with the development of new varieties of crops that are more resistant to the local climate and their further large-scale cultivation. The Mexicans cultivated several high-yielding varieties of wheat. Further, the "green revolution" swept the Philippines, South Asia, India, etc. In these countries, in addition to wheat, rice, corn and some other crops were grown. At the same time, rice and wheat were the main ones.

Improved irrigation systems have been used by growers, as only a steady and sufficient supply of water can ensure the normal growth of crops. In addition, the planting and collection process was mechanized to the maximum, although human labor was still used in places. Also, in order to improve the quality and protect against pests, various pesticides and fertilizers began to be used in acceptable quantities.

Achievements and consequences of the Green Revolution

The "Green Revolution", of course, led to an increase in productivity and the rise of agriculture in these countries. It made it possible to increase the export of cultivated crops and, thereby, to a certain extent, solve the problem of nutrition of the growing population of the planet.

However, such extensive use scientific achievements in the agricultural sector required considerable financial investments and, ultimately, led to a sharp increase in prices for cultivated crops. At the same time, small producers and poor farmers could not at all use the latest scientific developments in growing productive varieties of agricultural products due to lack of financial opportunities. Many of them had to abandon this type of activity and sell their business.

The Green Revolution achieved only part of its primary goal of feeding the starving populations of developing countries, despite a notable increase in crop yields. The poor could not afford to buy such expensive products. Therefore, it was mostly exported.

The "Green Revolution" also led to severe environmental consequences. It's desertification, violation water regime, concentration in soil heavy metals and salts, etc.

abstract
About the Green Revolution
in the discipline "Ecological fundamentals of nature management"

Completed by: Pashicheva Yu.V.
Group: 3 GOST
Checked by: Veselova N.V.

Vologda
2010
Table of contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3
Agriculture is a type of human activity………………………4
Pros and Cons of Biotechnology……………………………………………………...5
The consequences of the "green" revolution………………………………………………….6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….7
References………………………………………………………………………8

"Green revolution

The "Green" revolution is a set of changes in the agriculture of developing countries that led to a significant increase in world agricultural production, which included the active breeding of more productive plant varieties, the use of fertilizers, and modern technology.
The "green" revolution is one of the forms of manifestation of the scientific and technological revolution, i.e. intensive development of agriculture through:
1) technization of agriculture (use of machinery and equipment);
2) the use of artificially bred varieties of plants and animals;
3) use of fertilizers and pesticides;
4) melioration (expansion of irrigated lands).
There are two "green revolutions".
The first "green" revolution took place in 40-70. XX century, its initiator was a major Mexican breeder Norman Ernest Borlaug. He saved as many people from starvation as no one could before him. He is considered the father of the Green Revolution. Despite the well-known costs inherent in any revolution, and the ambiguous perception by the world community of its results, the fact remains that it was it that allowed many developing countries not only to overcome the threat of hunger, but also to fully provide themselves with food.
By 1951-1956. Mexico fully provided itself with grain and began to export it; over 15 years, the grain yield in the country has increased 3 times. Borlaug's designs were used in breeding work in Colombia, India, Pakistan, in 1970 Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize.
By the mid-1980s, scientists were talking about a second "green" revolution, which should occur if agriculture takes the path of reducing anthropogenic energy inputs. It is based on an adaptive approach, i.e. agriculture needs to shift towards more environmentally friendly crop and livestock farming technologies.
The "green" revolution allowed not only to feed the growing population of the Earth, but also to improve its quality of life. The number of calories in food consumed per day has increased by 25% in developing countries. Critics of the Green Revolution have attempted to focus public attention on the overabundance of new cultivars that were purported to be an end in themselves, as if these cultivars themselves could produce such miraculous results. Of course, modern varieties allow you to increase the average yield due to more effective ways growing and caring for plants, due to their greater resistance to insect pests and major diseases. However, they only then allow you to get a noticeably larger yield when they are provided with proper care, the implementation of agricultural practices in accordance with the calendar and the stage of plant development. All these procedures remain absolutely necessary for transgenic varieties obtained in recent years. However, fertilization and regular watering, so necessary to obtain high yields, simultaneously create favorable conditions for the development of weeds, insect pests and the development of a number of common plant diseases. One of the directions of the second "green" revolution is the use of methods of "environmentally friendly" combating the consequences of anthropogenic interference in ecosystems. For example, after total deforestation, a gross violation of the local biocenosis, ecosystem occurs. Moisture stagnation and soil bogging occur in humid zones. Such water can become a source of harmful insects - bloodsuckers and disease carriers. Some fish are fighters of the larvae of harmful insects living in water, such as larvae of mosquitoes, midges. Thus, the main trends of the second "green" revolution are the minimal impact on the natural environment, the reduction of anthropogenic energy investments, the use of biological methods to control plant pests.
Nearly all of our traditional foods are the result of natural mutations and genetic transformation that drive evolution. primitive people, who for the first time traced the development cycle of plants, can be safely considered the first scientists. As they found answers to the questions of where, when and how to grow certain plants, in what soils, how much water each of them requires, they expanded their understanding of nature more and more. Hundreds of generations of farmers have contributed to the acceleration of genetic transformation through regular selection using the most prolific and strongest plants and animals.
Initially, selection was based on artificial selection, when a person selects plants or animals with traits of interest to him. Until the XVI-XVII centuries. the selection took place unconsciously, that is, a person, for example, selected the best, largest wheat seeds for sowing, without thinking that he was changing the plants in the direction he needed. Selection as a science took shape only in recent decades. In the past, it was more of an art than a science. Skills, knowledge and specific experience, often classified, were the property of individual farms, passing from generation to generation.
Agriculture is a kind of human activity.

Agriculture is a unique human activity that can be considered simultaneously as the art, science and craft of managing the growth of plants and animals for human needs. And always main goal this activity was the growth of production, which has now reached 5 billion tons. in year. To feed the growing population of the Earth, by 2025 this figure will have to increase by at least 50%. But agricultural producers can achieve this result only if they have access to the most advanced methods of growing the highest-yielding varieties of cultivated plants anywhere in the world.
The intensification of agriculture affects the environment and causes certain social problems. However, it is possible to judge the harm or benefit of modern technologies only taking into account the rapid growth of the world's population. The population of Asia has more than doubled in 40 years (from 1.6 to 3.5 billion people). What would an additional 2 billion people be like if not for the green revolution? Although the mechanization of agriculture has led to a decrease in the number of farms, but the benefits of the "green" revolution, associated with a multiple increase in food production and a steady decline in bread prices in almost all countries of the world, are much more significant for humanity.
Nevertheless, a number of problems (first of all, pollution of soils and surface water bodies, due to a large extent to the excessive use of fertilizers and chemicals plant protection) requires the serious attention of the entire world community. By increasing yields on the most suitable lands for growing crops, agricultural producers around the world are leaving vast areas of land for other purposes virtually untouched. Thus, if we compare world crop production in 1950 and in our time, then with the previous yield, to ensure such growth, it would have been necessary to sow not 600 million hectares, as now, but three times more. Meanwhile, an additional 1.2 billion hectares is, in fact, nowhere to get, especially in Asian countries, where the population density is extremely high. In addition, the lands involved in agricultural turnover are becoming more depleted and environmentally vulnerable every year. Yields of the main food crops continuously improved through improved tillage, irrigation, fertilization, weed and pest control, and reduced harvest losses. However, it is already clear that significant efforts, both traditional breeding and modern agricultural biotechnology, will be required in order to achieve the genetic improvement of food plants at a pace that would satisfy the needs of 8.3 billion people by 2025.

Pros and cons of biotechnology.

Over the past 35 years, biotechnology, using recombinant (obtained by joining together unnaturally occurring fragments) DNA, has become an invaluable new scientific method for researching and producing agricultural products. This unprecedented penetration into the depths of the genome - to the molecular level - should be regarded as one of the most important milestones on the path of endless knowledge of nature. Recombinant DNA allows breeders to select and introduce genes into plants “one at a time”, which not only dramatically reduces research time compared to traditional breeding, eliminating the need to spend it on “unnecessary” genes, but also makes it possible to obtain “useful” genes from the most different types plants. This genetic transformation holds enormous benefits for agricultural producers, in particular by increasing plant resistance to insect pests, diseases and herbicides. Additional benefits are associated with the breeding of varieties that are more resistant to lack or excess of moisture in the soil, as well as to heat or cold - the main characteristics of modern forecasts of future climatic cataclysms.
Today, the prospects of agricultural biotechnology to provide such plants that will be used as medicines or vaccines look more and more real. We will simply grow such plants and eat their fruits to cure or prevent many diseases. It is hard to imagine how important this could be for poor countries, where conventional pharmaceuticals are still a novelty and traditional WHO vaccination programs are proving too expensive and difficult to implement. This line of research should be supported in every possible way, including through the aforementioned cooperation between the public and private sectors of the economy. Of course, poor countries will need to develop reasonable regulatory mechanisms to most effectively guide the development of production, testing and use of GM products to protect both public health and environment. In addition, the intellectual property of private companies also needs to be protected in order to ensure a fair return on past investments and ensure their growth in the future.
The current fierce debate about transgenic crops is focused on the safety of GMOs. Concern about the potential dangers of GMOs is based largely on the notion that the introduction of "foreign" DNA into the main varieties of food crops is "unnatural" and, therefore, is accompanied by an unavoidable health risk. But since all living organisms, including food plants, animals, microbes, etc., contain DNA, how can recombinant DNA be considered "unnatural"? Even to define the concept of "foreign gene" is problematic, since many genes turn out to be common to a variety of organisms. The requirements for GM products are much higher than for varieties obtained as a result of conventional breeding and even breeding in which mutations are caused by irradiation or the use of chemicals. At the same time, society must be clearly aware that there is no “zero biological risk” in nature, the idea of ​​​​which is just the embodiment of the “precautionary principle” not based on any scientific data.

Consequences of the "green" revolution.

The main goal of the "green" revolution was to increase agricultural production. products. But active human intervention in the life of natural ecosystems has led to a number of negative consequences:

1) soil degradation.

Causes:
-technization, chemicalization, melioration

2) pollution of the biosphere with pesticides.

Causes:
-chemicalization

3) violation of the natural balance of ecosystems.

Causes:
- artificial breeding of plant and animal varieties

Soil degradation is a gradual deterioration of soil properties caused by a change in soil formation conditions as a result of natural causes or human activities and is accompanied by a decrease in humus content, destruction of soil structure and a decrease in fertility.

The main resource of the agrosystem - soil - is the surface fertile layer earth's crust created under the combined influence external conditions: heat, water, air, plant and animal organisms, especially microorganisms.

Fertility is the ability of the soil to provide plants with the necessary amount of nutrients, water and air.
Fertility depends on the stock of organic substances - humus, the content of nutrients available to plants, and moisture availability. As a result of the use of mineral fertilizers, microorganisms that destroy humus are activated, i.e. soil fertility is declining.

Pollution of the biosphere with pesticides.
Over the past 50 years, the use of mineral fertilizers has increased by 43 times, pesticides by 10 times, which has led to the pollution of individual components of the biosphere: soil, water, vegetation. Because of this pollution, the living population of the soil is depleted - the number of soil animals, algae, and microorganisms is reduced.

Conclusion.

The Green Revolution has made it possible to achieve success in the war against hunger waged by mankind. However, scientific minds emphasize that until it is possible to slow down the growth rate of the world's population, any achievements of the "green" revolution will be ephemeral. Already today, humanity has technologies (either completely ready for use or at the final stage of development) that can reliably feed 30 billion people. Over the past 100 years, scientists have been able to apply their dramatically expanded knowledge of genetics, plant physiology, pathology, entomology, and other disciplines to noticeably accelerate the process of alignment. high yield plants with high resistance to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses.

Literature.

Arustamov - "Ecological foundations of nature management".
M.V. Galperin - "Ecological foundations of nature management".