Green Revolution

Vast cultural changes and sheer incompetence are dominating factors in the history of the globalization of food. As one explores the readings, it appears that those in charge of the situation in the 19th, 20th, and now the 21st centuries are either uncaring, not cautious, or simply have no idea what they are doing. Perhaps, in each situation, a different combination of these is at work. Examples of hypocrisy permeate the history of the agri-food industry's rise to a global scale.

The “green revolution” was to end hunger by creating a massive production increase that would allow everyone to be fed. Indeed, the green revolution has created a surplus of crops, and today every person on the planet could have thirty-five hundred calories a day just from the world's grain supplies. There is enough food for approximately 4.3 pounds of general food per person per day: 2.5 pounds of grain, beans, and nuts, a pound of fruits and vegetables, and nearly another pound of meat, milk, and eggs. However, there are still 800 million people suffering from hunger in the world.

This is due, in large part, to a number of problems with the methods that were spawned from the green revolution and from a devastatingly backwards food aid system. Most countries with high percentages of hungry people still produce enough to feed everyone, yet many of these 'hungry countries' actually export quite a bit of their food.

While claiming that they have their citizens' best interests at heart, nation-states often exhibit behavior that conflicts with that supposed benevolence. One example of this is in broiler production. The state subsidizes promotion of broiler exports and subsidizes promotion of the industry in other countries. However, broiler-processing plants have high environmental impact, and the industry is a major environmental polluter, so the state ...