The Green Revolution
Facts and Fallacies
What is the Green Revolution?
After the second world war, American chemical manufacturers who had
been contracted to make weapons for the war effort needed to find an
outlet for their wares. They soon discovered that they could create fertilizer
that was rich in nitrates, which could be used on crops. The fertilizer
it self is derived from petroleum, which of course it nothing more than
refined crude oil. This was just the beginning of the Green Revolution
moment.
For some time leading up to the introduction of the petrochemical fertilizer, there had been the gradual introduction of machinery into the process of farming. What had been done in the olden days was soon being swept away by the convenience of modem technology. The attraction to these new methods of cultivation is undeniable, as farming has historically been extremely labor intensive. Instead of having to rely on horses and oxen to plow a field, the farmer could drive a tractor far easier and quick, allowing for a greater quantity of land to be cultivated in a shorter period of time.
For all the time that was saved during the process of planting, and the increased growth brought on by using chemical fertilizer, there was still a weak link in the chain of agriculture. That of course would be the plants themselves, as they were susceptible to pests and drought and favored certain conditions where in to grow. So to address this issues brings us to the latest stage of the Green Revolution: Bio-engineering, and genetically modified organisms (GMO's). Utilizing advancements in science companies have been able to create seeds which are drought resistant which can be used in arid regions. They've made plants which contain small traces of poison from other plants, even some from scorpions, which will keep pests at bay but leave humans presumably unaffected. Even plants which are immune to chemical herbicides that can kill virtually any other form of plant life.
The Green Revolution is really the combination of these three factors, mechanization of agriculture, chemical control of soil, pests, weeds, and the genetic modifications of plants to make them suit our needs.