A New Green Revolution?

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Wheat-ha Hula-Israel, 2007.

The Green Revolution was a period over the mid-20^th century when new agricultural technologies and practices were being developed, allowing for greater production, especially in the developing world. One of the important new technologies to come out of the Revolution was GMOs; high-yield crops, which I have discussed previously on this blog – this facet of the movement is sometimes referred to as the Gene Revolution. The Revolution increased agricultural production around the world, saving many from starvation. But now, once again, there are food shortages in many parts of the world; over a billion people live in food insecurity, while 45% of our land is used to produce food. So, are we in need of a new Green Revolution?

 The combined impacts of climate change and population increase have meant difficulties for agriculture; land is deforested to make room for crops to feed the billions of humans, which leads to higher emissions, while changes in temperature and weather make it harder to grow the crops in the first place. Water scarcity and lack of land, combined with the emissions of agricultural practices, mean that our food systems are unsustainable (De Schutter et al, 2011), and detrimental to the environment. Sooner or later, we are going to need new practices if we want to keep the world fed.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Irrigation1, 2007.

 Some things are obvious; high-yield crops, requiring less input for more output. Other things are obvious but less appealing to many – like vegetarianism and veganism. But, like the first Green Revolution, what is needed is developments in sustainable agriculture. The major challenges will be are soil degradation, land space, and water scarcity, as well as the need for crops specialised to the new environments we are creating with climate change (Den Herber et al, 2010). Innovations like Sundrop Farm’s solar and seawater tomatoes are a step in the right direction, using sustainable resources to produce food with little to no energy usage, and it is important that such developments are encouraged. But can we find new ways to sustainably produce enough food on a global scale?

 I’ve talked about a lot of the possibilities over the last few months; the ways that agriculture fails, and the methods being looked into on how to develop past the current, unsustainable practices. The future of agriculture is now in the hands of scientists; developing new ways to produce sufficient crops to feed the global population in a sustainable way is no mean feat, however. There is no guarantee that we will be able to avert an agrapocalypse; either a result of insufficient food leading to widespread starvation, or unsustainable practices in conjunction with wider climate change.