337
researching methods of developing
a high-yielding strain of wheat that
could resist disease and was short
in height, so as to reduce wind
damage. The work in Mexico was
incredibly successful: by 1956, the
country was totally self-sufficient
and no longer imported wheat and
maize. This success launched
what became known as the Green
Revolution—the spread of new
modern agricultural technologies in
the 1960s and 70s that dramatically
increased food production around
the world. The Green Revolution
benefited countries that included
the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, China, Indonesia, Kenya,
Iran, Thailand, and Turkey.
Indian scientists in particular
had followed the work of Borlaug
and his colleagues. In the mid-
1960s, India had been struck by two
back-to-back droughts, which led to
the need for large food imports from
the United States. In 1964, both
India and Pakistan began importing
and testing semi-dwarf varieties of
wheat from Mexico, and the results
were promising: in the spring of
1966, the harvest was larger than
any ever produced in South Asia,
despite it being a dry year.Miracle rice
In 1960, a new so-called miracle
rice known as IR-8 was developed
at the International Rice Research
Institute in the Philippines. With
its much reduced growing cycle,
this new product brought about a
dramatic transformation in farmers’
lives. In countries such as Vietnam,
two complete crops of the new
rice could now be produced each
year, whereas the traditional rice
it replaced would only produce one
crop. Stunning innovations such asthis in agricultural science allowed
chronically poor countries, in Asia
in particular, to feed themselves
and meet the demands of their
growing populations.
The Green Revolution did not
come without controversy, not
least because it involved a move
toward chemical pesticides. During
the 1940s, the insecticide DDT
(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)
was introduced as a way of
controlling a variety of diseases,
including mosquito-borne malaria,
with a single treatment. However in
1962, American biologist Rachel
Carson highlighted the dangers of
DDT in her groundbreaking book
Silent Spring, claiming that it maycause cancer and also be bad for
the environment. Silent Spring led
to a nationwide ban on DDT in the
US and raised enough concern
to trigger the establishment of the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), an independent body to
safeguard the environment. The
Green Revolution also faced huge
challenges in many countries in
Africa, where there was a lack of
irrigation facilities, unreliable
rainfall, high fertilizer prices, and
no credit to buy new seed varieties.GM crops
Genetically modified (GM) crops
were greeted with excitement in the
1990s and regarded as part of the ❯❯See also: The outbreak of the Black Death in Europe 118–19 ■ The Columbian Exchange 158–59 ■ Stevenson’s Rocket
enters service 220–25 ■ The opening of Ellis Island 250–51 ■ The opening of the Eiffel Tower 256–57THE MODERN WORLD
Death rates decline
and birth rates rise.Better living conditions and
medical advances help
increase life expectancy.Concern about how to feed the growing population
kick-starts the Green Revolution.The global population continues to increase,
particularly in developing countries.The world’s population exceeds 7 billion.
Increasing strains on the environment such as food shortages,
water scarcity, and climate change threaten millions of lives.US_334-339_Population.indd 337 15/02/2016 16:46