Norman Borlaug, “The father of the Green Revolution”, passed away last month after living a long, full life. While most people outside of agriculture may have only heard his name in passing, few realize the impact he’s had on world food production. This is particularly timely since the United Nation’s FAO recently announced that by 2050 world food demand will increase by 70%.
Borlaug used plant breeding to greatly increase small grain production, initially in Mexico but his advances soon resulted in higher grain yields in other nations, as well. It’s been estimated that Borlaug was responsible for the saving (from starvation and the disease effects of malnutrition) of over one billion lives. Yet while most school children learn of Dr. Salk’s part in preventing polio, how many have heard of Dr. Borlaug?
Borlaug also had decided opinions on organic vs. modern agriculture, particularly the idea that we can farm without using commercial fertilizer. The following quote summarizes his opinion quite well:
This shouldn’t even be a debate. Even if you could use all the organic material that you have–the animal manures, the human waste, the plant residues–and get them back on the soil, you couldn’t feed more than 4 billion people. In addition, if all agriculture were organic, you would have to increase cropland area dramatically, spreading out into marginal areas and cutting down millions of acres of forests.
At the present time, approximately 80 million tons of nitrogen nutrients are utilized each year. If you tried to produce this nitrogen organically, you would require an additional 5 or 6 billion head of cattle to supply the manure. How much wild land would you have to sacrifice just to produce the forage for these cows? There’s a lot of nonsense going on here.
If people want to believe that the organic food has better nutritive value, it’s up to them to make that foolish decision. But there’s absolutely no research that shows that organic foods provide better nutrition. As far as plants are concerned, they can’t tell whether that nitrate ion comes from artificial chemicals or from decomposed organic matter. If some consumers believe that it’s better from the point of view of their health to have organic food, God bless them. Let them buy it. Let them pay a bit more. It’s a free society. But don’t tell the world that we can feed the present population without chemical fertilizer. That’s when this misinformation becomes destructive…