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Introductory Bibliography

THE GREEN REVOLUTION DEBATES 1970-2007

Altieri, Miguel A. 1995. Creating the Synergisms for a Sustainable Agriculture. NewYork: UNDP Guidebook Series.

___________. 1988. Agroecology : the Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture.Boulder: Westview, 2nd edition.

A geneticist analyzes the scientific bases for sustainable food production.

Badgley, C., et. al. 2007. Organic Agriculture and the Global Food Supply. RenewableAgriculture and Food Systems.

Detailed discussion of alternative organic production models which can feed the world.

Bayliss-Smith, Tim. 1984. Energy Flows and Agrarian Change in Karnataka: TheGreen Revolution at Micro-scale, in Bayliss-Smith and Sudhr Wanmali, eds.

Understanding Green Revolutions: Agrarian Change and Development Planning inSouth Asia. Cambridge University Press.

Traditional rice production in India produces 10 times more energy in food than what was

expended to grow it. Green revolution production brings the relation to equal or reversesit. While types of energy are not strictly comparable, this analysis points out the high

consumption of energy necessary for high tech food production.

Bowonder, B. 1979. Impact Analysis of the Green Revolution in India, TechnologicalForecasting and Social Change 15/4 (December): 297-313.

It has mainly benefited the rich, who have land, irrigation and credit for inputs.

Dahlberg, Kenneth. 1979. Beyond the Green Revolution: The Ecology and Politics of

Global Agricultural Development. New York: Plenum Press.

Technology involves a number of culturally and environmentally specific elements thatare neither neutral nor universal.

Ellstrand, Norman C. 2003. Dangerous Liaisons? When Cultivated Plants Mate with

Their Wild Relatives. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Problems of genetically-modified plant pollen contaminating other varieties.

Falcon, Walter P. 1970. The Green Revolution: Generations of Problems, AmericanJournal of Agricultural Economics 52/5 (December): 698-710.

First generation problem of production (water, fertilizers in exact quantities); second

generation problem of marketing; third generation problem of equity and employment.

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Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations. 1996. Report on the State of the

World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, prepared for the International

Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, Leipzig, June17-23, Rome: FAO, pp.13-14:

The chief contemporary cause of the loss of genetic diversity has been the spread of

modern commercial agriculture. The largely unintended consequence of the introductionof new varieties of crops has been the replacement and loss of traditional highly variable

farmer varieties....[In the United States], 95 percent of the cabbage, 91 percent of the

field maize, 94 percent of the pea and 81 percent of the tomato varieties apparently nolonger exist. The processes of modernization and varietal replacement, well documented

in the United States, have now occurred in many other countries and have surely led to

substantial losses of unique genetic materials.

GRAIN. 2006. Another Silver Bullet for Africa? Bill Gates to Resurrect the

Rockefeller Foundations Decaying Green Revolution.

http://www.grain.org/articles_files/atg-7-en.pdf.

A short overview of the issues.

Halberg, N., et. al. 2007. Global Development of Organic Agriculture: Challenges andProspects. London: CABI Publishing.

Data and analysis advocating that organic farming can provide sufficient food.

Holt-Gimenez, Eric; Miguel Altieri, and Peter Rosset. 2006. Ten Reasons Why the

Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations Alliance for Another Green

Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Food First Policy Brief .No.12.http://www.foodfirst.org/files/pdf/policybriefs/pb12.pdf

This analysis discusses the scientific and social claims made for the green revolution

approach to agriculture.

Inter-Academy Council. 2004. Realizing the Promise of African Agriculture,

Amsterdam. http://www.interacademycouncil.net/CMS/Reports/AfricanAgriculture.aspxExpert report commissioned by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which concludes that

Africas ecological systems are too diverse for the technological bullet of a green

revolution.

Losey, John, J.J. Obrycki, and R.A. Hufbauer. 2004. Biosafety Considerations for

Transgenic Insecticidal Plants: Non-Target Herbivores, Detritivores, and Pollinators.

Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop Science, pp. 153-155.

___________. 2004. Biosafety Considerations for Transgenic Insecticidal Plants: Non-

Target Predators and Parasitoids, Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop Science. pp. 156-159.

Mayet, Miriam. 2007. The New Green Revolution in Africa: Trojan Horse for

GMOs? in A. Norstad, ed. Africa Can Feed Itself. Oslo: The Development Fund.

http://www.grain.org/articles_files/atg-7-en.pdfhttp://www.grain.org/articles_files/atg-7-en.pdfhttp://www.foodfirst.org/files/pdf/policybriefs/pb12.pdfhttp://www.grain.org/articles_files/atg-7-en.pdfhttp://www.foodfirst.org/files/pdf/policybriefs/pb12.pdf

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Relates the Alliance for a Green Revolution (AGRA) to Monsantos Seeds of Hope

Campaign.

Mushita, Andrew and Carol Thompson. 2007. Biopiracy of Biodiversity International

Exchange as Enclosure. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.

A comprehensive analysis of current issues relating to food production, from biopiracyand patenting, to how trade and land reform models promote industrial agriculture,

concluding with successful African alternatives for sustainable food production and food

sovereignty.

Norstad, Aksel, ed. 2007. Africa Can Feed Itself. Oslo: The Development Fund.

Articles from a June 2007 conference in Norway, covering issues from climate change, to

development aid, organic farming and farmers organizations.

Prahladachar, M. 1983. Income Distribution Effects of the Green Revolution in India:

A Review of Empirical Evidences, World Development 11: 927-44.

Paddock, William. 1970. How Green is the Green Revolution? Bioscience 20/16

(August): 897-902.The green revolution would die without any one of the three: subsidies, irrigation,

fertilizers. Green Revolution crops developed in one tropical environment do poorly in

another.

Shiva, Vandana. 2007. Not so Green Revolution: Lessons from India, in A. Norstad,

ed. Africa Can Feed Itself. Oslo: The Development Fund.

The article provides documentation to question the production output claims of the Indiangreen revolution, as well as to demonstrate its impact on small-scale farmers.

Singh, R. B. 2000. Environmental Consequences of Agricultural Development: ACase Study from the Green Revolution State of Haryana, India, Agriculture, Ecosystems

and Environment 82/1: 103-7.

Spitz, Pierre 1985. Food Systems and Society in India. Geneva: UNRISD.

While consumption of green revolution wheat increased in India, per capita consumption

of legumes (peas, beans, lentils), a vital source of protein, dropped by one-half (p. 346),

mainly related to changes in land-use.

Staub, William and Melvin Blas. 1971. Genetic Technology and Agricultural

Development, Science 173/3992 (July 9): 119-123.Analyzes close association of genetic seed technologies with irrigation.

Swanson, Timothy. 1996. The Economics of Environmental DegradationTragedy forthe Commons? Cheltenham: Edward Elgar and UNEP.

The research documents the loss of biodiversity in varieties of rice in Asia from the green

revolution.

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Thompson, Carol B. 2007. Africa: Green Revolution or Rainbow Evolution? Foreign

Policy in Focus, (July). http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4398

A brief overview outlining the points of controversy.

United Nations. 1969. Planning Strategies in Agriculture, Economic Bulletin for Asia

and the Far East, 20/2 (September): 9-30.Considerable doubt is cast on the wisdom of concentrating resources on the introduction

of new high-yielding varieties of seed; requirements include water management, peasant

self-help organizations.

UNRISD. 1974. The Social and Economic Implicatons of Large-scale Introduction of

New Varieties of Food Grain: Summary of Conclusion of a Global Research

Project.Report NO. 74.1 Geneva: UNRISD.The most comprehensive study, undertaken with UNDP, of the social and economic

implications of the green revolution in 15 countries.

A few conclusions: a) the introduction of new varieties is not in itself a simple

prescription which can be easily applied over large areas of the worldspecific varietiesneed to be tailored to very localized soil and climatic conditions. b) Although initially

high-yielding, later yields reflect the productive limits of the land. c) where serioussocial inequalities already exist, new technology will increase them.

Yapa, Lakshman. 1979. Ecopolitical Economy of the Green Revolution, ProfessionalGeographer 31/4: 371-76.

Use of technology for increased production is not neutral and affects ecological relations.

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