Water will be further polluted by industrial farm runoff, reducing the vital supply of this limited resource. The chemicals Borlaug advocates get into streams and our water supplies in various ways when herbicides are used on plants. Moreover, the insecticides used to eliminate so-called pests also kill desirable species, such as pollinating bees and other beneficial insects, creating negative impacts on ecosystems and bio-regions.
Chemical fertilizers, the bread-and-butter of agri-business and the catalyst of the Green Revolution, come from an industry built on processing fossil fuel. Not only is oil used to create plant nutrients, it's also needed to run the big machines necessary for large-scale mono-crop cultivation.
Borlaug's call for a 21st century 'Green Revolution' collides with what's generally acknowledged as a shrinking world oil supply. Where will the world's farmers be once they have abandoned their traditional farming practices in favor of "improved" seeds and chemicals, purchased from global corporations?
More of the Earth will have been paved over to get into now remote regions, but where will the future oil come from to fuel vehicles and all the industrial products that they inevitably bring with them?
Chemical fertilizers, the bread-and-butter of agri-business and the catalyst of the Green Revolution, come from an industry built on processing fossil fuel. Not only is oil used to create plant nutrients, it's also needed to run the big machines necessary for large-scale mono-crop cultivation.
Borlaug's call for a 21st century 'Green Revolution' collides with what's generally acknowledged as a shrinking world oil supply. Where will the world's farmers be once they have abandoned their traditional farming practices in favor of "improved" seeds and chemicals, purchased from global corporations?
More of the Earth will have been paved over to get into now remote regions, but where will the future oil come from to fuel vehicles and all the industrial products that they inevitably bring with them?