Non-state educational institution
secondary vocational education
Vologda Cooperative College

abstract
On the topic "Green" revolution
on the discipline "Environmental foundations of nature management"

Completed by: Pashicheva Yu.V.
Group: 3 GOST
Checked by: N.V. Veselova

Vologda
2010
Table of contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… .3
Agriculture is a human activity ……………………… 4
Pros and cons of biotechnology ………………………………………… …… ... 5
Consequences of the Green Revolution ……………………………………………… .6
Conclusion …………………………………………………… ……………………… .7
References ……………………………………………………………………… 8

"Green revolution

"Green" revolution - a set of changes in the agriculture of developing countries, which led to a significant increase in world agricultural production, which included active breeding of more productive varieties of plants, the use of fertilizers, and modern technology.
The "green" revolution is one of the forms of scientific and technological revolution, i.e. intensive development of agriculture by:
1) the technicalization of agriculture (the use of machinery and equipment);
2) the use of artificially bred varieties of plants and animals;
3) the use of fertilizers and pesticides;
4) land reclamation (expansion of irrigated land).
There are two “green revolutions”.
The first "green" revolution took place in the 40-70s. XX century, it was initiated by a major Mexican breeder Norman Ernest Borlaug. He saved as many people from starvation as no one had before him. He is considered the father of the Green Revolution. Despite the well-known costs inherent in any revolution, and the ambiguous perception by the world community of its results, the fact remains: it was she who allowed many developing countries not only to overcome the threat of hunger, but also to fully provide themselves with food.
By 1951-1956. Mexico fully provided itself with grain and began exporting it; over 15 years, the grain yield in the country has grown 3 times. Borlaug's developments were used in breeding work in Colombia, India, Pakistan, in 1970 Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize.
By the mid-1980s, scientists started talking about a second "green" revolution, which should occur if agriculture follows the path of reducing anthropogenic energy inputs. It is based on an adaptive approach, i.e. agriculture needs to reorient towards more environmentally friendly technologies for growing crops and raising livestock.
The "green" revolution has made it possible not only to feed the growing population of the Earth, but also to improve its quality of life. The number of calories in food consumed per day increased by 25% in developing countries. Critics of the green revolution tried to focus public attention on an excessive abundance of new varieties, the breeding of which allegedly became an end in itself, as if these varieties in themselves could provide such miraculous results. Of course, modern varieties can increase the average yield due to more efficient ways of growing and caring for plants, due to their greater resistance to insect pests and major diseases. However, they only allow you to get a noticeably larger yield when they are provided with proper care, the implementation of agricultural techniques in accordance with the calendar and the stage of plant development. All these procedures remain absolutely necessary for transgenic varieties obtained in recent years. However, fertilization and regular watering, so necessary to obtain high yields, simultaneously create favorable conditions for the development of weeds, insect pests and the development of a number of common plant diseases. One of the directions of the second "green" revolution is the application of methods of "environmentally friendly" fight against the consequences of anthropogenic interference in ecosystems. For example, after the total deforestation, a gross violation of the local biocenosis and ecosystem occurs. In humid zones there is stagnation of moisture, waterlogging of soils. Such water can become a source of harmful insects - bloodsuckers and disease vectors. Some fish are exterminators of the larvae of harmful insects living in the water, such as the larvae of mosquitoes, midges. Thus, the main tendencies of the second "green" revolution are the provision of a minimal impact on the natural environment, a decrease in the investment of anthropogenic energy, and the use of biological methods for controlling plant pests.
Almost all of our traditional foods are the result of natural mutations and genetic transformation that drive evolution. Primitive people, who were the first to follow the cycle of plant development, can be safely considered the first scientists. As they found answers to the questions of where, when and how to grow certain plants, in what soils, how much water each of them requires, they expanded their understanding of nature more and more. Hundreds of generations of farmers have contributed to the acceleration of genetic transformation through regular breeding using the most prolific and strong plants and animals.
Initially, selection was based on artificial selection, when a person selects plants or animals with traits of interest to him. Until the XVI-XVII centuries. the selection took place unconsciously, that is, a person, for example, selected the best, largest wheat seeds for sowing, without thinking that he was changing the plants in the direction he needed. Selection as a science took shape only in recent decades. In the past, it was more art than science. Skills, knowledge and specific experience, often classified, were the property of individual farms, passing from generation to generation.
Agriculture is a human activity.

Agriculture is a unique human activity that can be viewed simultaneously as the art, science and craft of managing the growth of plants and animals for human needs. And the main goal of this activity has always been the growth of production, which has now reached 5 billion tons. in year. To feed the growing population of the Earth, this figure will have to increase by at least 50% by 2025. But agricultural producers will be able to achieve such a result only if they have access to the most advanced methods of growing the highest-yielding varieties of crops anywhere in the world.
Agricultural intensification affects the environment and causes certain social problems. However, to judge the harm or benefit of modern technologies can only be taken into account the rapid growth of the world's population. The population of Asia has more than doubled over 40 years (from 1.6 to 3.5 billion people). What would be the additional 2 billion people if it were not for the Green Revolution? Although the mechanization of agriculture has led to a decrease in the number of farms, the benefits of the Green Revolution, associated with the exponential increase in food production and the steady decline in the price of bread in almost all countries of the world, are much more significant for humanity.
Nevertheless, a number of problems (first of all, the pollution of soils and surface water bodies, caused to a large extent by the excessive use of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals) requires serious attention of the entire world community. By increasing yields on land most suitable for plant cultivation, agricultural producers around the world are leaving vast areas of other land virtually untouched. So, if we compare the world crop production in 1950 and in our time, then with the previous yield, to ensure such an increase, it would be necessary to sow not 600 million hectares, as now, but three times more. Meanwhile, the additional 1.2 billion hectares are already, in fact, nowhere to take, especially in Asian countries, where the population density is extremely high. In addition, the lands involved in agricultural use are becoming increasingly depleted and environmentally vulnerable every year. Yields for major food crops are continually improving through improved tillage, irrigation, fertilization, weed and pest control, and reduced harvest losses. Nevertheless, it is already clear that considerable efforts will be required, both traditional breeding and modern agricultural biotechnology, in order to achieve genetic improvement of food plants at a rate that would allow meeting the needs of 8.3 billion people by 2025.

Pros and cons of biotechnology.

Over the past 35 years, biotechnology, using recombinant DNA (obtained by combining together non-naturally occurring fragments) DNA, has become an invaluable new scientific method of research and production of agricultural products. This unprecedented penetration into the depths of the genome - to the molecular level - should be seen as one of the most important milestones on the path of endless knowledge of nature. Recombinant DNA allows breeders to select and introduce genes into plants "one by one", which not only dramatically reduces research time compared to traditional breeding, eliminating the need to spend it on "unnecessary" genes, but also makes it possible to obtain "useful" genes from a variety of plant species. This genetic transformation holds the promise of tremendous benefits for agricultural producers, in particular by increasing plant resistance to pests, diseases and herbicides. Additional benefits are associated with the development of varieties that are more resistant to a lack or excess of moisture in the soil, as well as to heat or cold - the main characteristics of modern forecasts of future climatic cataclysms.
Today, the prospects for agricultural biotechnology to provide such plants that will be used as medicines or vaccines look more real. We will simply grow such plants and eat their fruits to cure or prevent many diseases. It is hard to imagine how important this could be for poor countries, where conventional pharmaceuticals are still a novelty and traditional WHO vaccination programs are too expensive and difficult to implement. This direction of research must be supported in every possible way, including through the aforementioned cooperation between the public and private sectors of the economy. Of course, poor countries will have to develop reasonable regulatory mechanisms to most effectively guide the development of production, testing and use of GM products for the protection of both public health and the environment. In addition, the intellectual property of private companies also needs to be protected in order to ensure a fair return on previous investments and to ensure their growth in the future.
The current fierce debate about transgenic crops focuses on the safety of GMOs. Concerns about the potential dangers of GMOs are based primarily on the notion that the introduction of "alien" DNA into major food crops is "unnatural" and, therefore, is accompanied by an unavoidable health risk. But since all living organisms, including food plants, animals, microbes, and so on, contain DNA, how can recombinant DNA be considered “unnatural”? Even defining the concept of "foreign gene" is problematic, since many genes are common to a wide variety of organisms. GM foods are much more demanding than varieties derived from conventional breeding and even breeding in which mutations are caused by radiation or the use of chemicals. At the same time, society should be clearly aware that there is no "zero biological risk" in nature, the idea of \u200b\u200bwhich is just the embodiment of the "precautionary principle" not based on any scientific evidence.

Consequences of the "green" revolution.

The main goal of the "green" revolution was to increase agricultural production. products. But active human intervention in the life of natural ecosystems has led to a number of negative consequences:

1) soil degradation.

Causes:
-technization, chemicalization, melioration

2) pollution of the biosphere with pesticides.

Causes:
-chemisation

3) violation of the natural balance of ecosystems.

Causes:
- artificial breeding of plant and animal varieties

Soil degradation is a gradual deterioration of soil properties caused by a change in soil formation conditions as a result of natural causes or human economic activity and accompanied by a decrease in humus content, destruction of the soil structure and a decrease in fertility.

The main resource of the agricultural system - soil - is the surface fertile layer of the earth's crust, created under the combined influence of external conditions: heat, water, air, plant and animal organisms, especially microorganisms.

Fertility is the ability of the soil to provide plants with the necessary amount of nutrients, water and air.
Fertility depends on the supply of organic matter - humus, the content of nutrients available to plants, and the availability of moisture. As a result of the use of mineral fertilizers, microorganisms that destroy humus are activated, i.e. soil fertility decreases.

Biosphere pollution with pesticides.
Over the past 50 years, the use of mineral fertilizers increased 43 times, pesticides 10 times, which led to the pollution of individual components of the biosphere: soil, water, vegetation. Because of this pollution, the living population of the soil is impoverished - the number of soil animals, algae, and microorganisms decreases.

Conclusion.

The Green Revolution made it possible to achieve success in the war against hunger waged by humanity. However, scientists emphasize that until it is possible to slow down the rate of growth of the world's population, any achievements of the "green" revolution will be ephemeral. Already today, mankind has technologies (either completely ready for use, or in the final stages of development) capable of reliably feeding 30 billion people. Over the past 100 years, scientists have been able to apply their vastly expanded knowledge in genetics, plant physiology, pathology, entomology, and other disciplines in order to significantly accelerate the process of combining high plant productivity with high resistance to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses.

Literature.

Arustamov - "Ecological bases of nature management".
M.V. Halperin - "Ecological bases of nature management".

The concept of the "green revolution"

In the middle of the nineteenth century, chemical fertilizers began to be actively used in the agriculture of developed countries, which, together with other scientific and technical achievements, made it possible to bring the grain yield in some European countries to 80–90 centners / ha - ten times more than during the Middle Ages. Since the middle of the twentieth century, chemical fertilizers have been widely used in developing countries, which has significantly increased yields. Along with the introduction of agrochemistry, an important role was played by the breeding and distribution of new high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat. A spike in agricultural productivity growth

Farms in developing countries in the 1960s - 70s were called the "green revolution".

Mexico can be considered the ancestor of the "green revolution" in the early 60s, new high-yielding varieties of short-stemmed wheat, which have an unusual reddish color, were developed. Then they spread to India, Pakistan, and some other Asian countries. Around the same time, in the Philippines, it was possible to develop the "miracle - rice" variety, which also provides a large increase in yield.

Of course, social consequences Green revolution:

Managed to reduce the severity of the food problem,

It became possible to free some of the people from agriculture,

The urbanization process has increased,

There was an influx of workers to industrial enterprises,

People have become more mobile.

However, already in the period 1970s - 80s, it became obvious and negative consequencesThe "green revolution", manifested both in the environment (in the state of soil, water and biodiversity), and reflected on human health. The runoff of mineral nutrients from the fields into water bodies has increased (from an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus, "explosive" reproduction of phytoplankton occurs, a change in the quality of drinking water, the death of fish and other animals). The runoff of sulfates from terrestrial agrocenoses into rivers and seas has increased. Huge areas of land have been subjected to soil erosion, salinization and a decrease in their fertility. Many water sources have been polluted. A significant number of wild

and domestic plant and animal species disappeared forever. Harmful pesticide residues in food and drinking water endanger farmers' health

and consumers.

Significance and ecological role of the use of fertilizers and pesticides

Pesticides

Pesticides(from Lat. pestis - infection and caedo - kill) - chemical preparations for the protection of agricultural products, plants, for

Pesticides are classifieddepending on the groups of organisms on which they act:

1. Herbicides - for the destruction of weeds;

2. Zoocides - to combat rodents;

3. Fungicides - against pathogens of fungal diseases;

4. Defoliants - for removing leaves;

5. Deflorants - to remove excess flowers, etc.

The search for effective means for pest control continues to this day.

At first, substances containing heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and mercury were used. These inorganic compounds are often called pesticides of the first generation. It is now known that heavy metals can accumulate in soils and inhibit plant development. In some places, the soil is so poisoned by them that even now, 50 years later, they are still barren. These pesticides have lost their effectiveness as the pests become resistant to them.

Second generation pesticides–Based on synthetic organic compounds. In 1930 a Swiss chemist Paul Müller began to systematically study the effects of some of these compounds on insects. In 1938 he came across dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).

DDT turned out to be extremely toxic to insects and seemed to be relatively harmless to humans and other mammals. It was inexpensive to manufacture, had a broad spectrum of activity, and was difficult to degrade in the environment, providing long-term protection.

The merits seemed so outstanding that Müller received the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1948.

Subsequently, it was found that DDT accumulates in the food chains and the human body (found in the milk of nursing mothers, in adipose tissues). DDT is currently being phased out worldwide.

Agrochemical industry replaced second generation pesticides - volatile pesticides Are synthetic organic substances that decompose into simple non-toxic products within a few days or weeks after application. This is still the best option, although there are also disadvantages - some are more toxic than DDT, disrupt the ecosystem of the treated area, beneficial insects can be no less sensitive to unstable pesticides than pests.

The main consequences of the use of pesticides in agriculture:

1.Pesticides also kill beneficial insect species, sometimes providing excellent conditions for the reproduction of new agricultural pests;

2) Many types of pesticides are harmful to soil organisms needed to maintain plant health;

3) When using pesticides, the farmer himself risks his health: 200 thousand people die annually from poisoning with agrochemicals;

4) Some of the pesticides remain in food and drinking water;

5) Many pesticides are very stable and can only accumulate in the human body and have negative effects only over time. Some pesticides can cause chronic disease, newborn abnormalities, cancer, and more.

The circumstances noted led to the fact that some

pesticides are already banned in developed countries, but in developing countries their use is practically unlimited.

Fertilizers

Fertilizers are inorganic and organic substances used in agriculture and fisheries to increase crop yields and fish productivity in ponds.

They are: mineral (chemical), organic and bacterial(artificial introduction of microorganisms in order to increase soil fertility).

Mineral fertilizers- Extracted from the bowels or industrially obtained chemical compounds, contain basic nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and microelements important for vital activity (copper, boron, manganese).

Organic fertilizersIs humus, peat, manure, bird droppings (guano), various composts, sapropel (freshwater silt).

The rise of organic agriculture

In contrast to the Green Revolution in developed countries, the concept of organic agriculture has begun to spread among farmers and buyers.

However, the so-called "boom" of organic agriculture began only in the 1990s, which was associated with the reaction to the accumulated environmental problems and food scandals in the world. Residents of developed countries were willing to pay more for high quality goods. The states of some countries began to pay special attention to the development of this area of \u200b\u200bagriculture. In the same period, a number of innovative technologies for organic farming appeared (especially means of biological pest control), institutes and research centers engaged in research in the field of organic agriculture were developing.

Questions

1. What is the purpose of the Green Revolution?

2. What are the ways of the "green revolution".

3. What are the pros and cons of the green revolution?

4. Give a definition of the terms - pesticides and fertilizers.

5. Name the main groups of pesticides.

6. Why do pesticides have a negative impact on the environment?

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

The crisis of the agrarian civilization and genetically modified organisms Valery Glazko

"Green revolution"

"Green revolution"

The precursor to the biotechnological revolution based on gene-chromosome manipulation in plants was the green revolution. It ended 30 years ago and for the first time gave impressive results: the productivity of cereals and legumes almost doubled.

The expression "green revolution" was used for the first time in 1968 by the director of the United States Agency for International Development V. Goud, trying to describe the breakthrough achieved in food production on the planet due to the widespread distribution of new highly productive and low-growing varieties of wheat and rice in Asian countries that suffered from a shortage food. Many journalists then tried to describe the "green revolution" as a massive transfer of advanced technologies developed in the most developed and consistently high yields of agricultural systems to the fields of peasants in the third world countries. It marked the beginning of a new era in the development of agriculture on the planet, an era in which agricultural science was able to offer a number of improved technologies in accordance with the specific conditions characteristic of farming in developing countries. This required the introduction of large doses of mineral fertilizers and ameliorants, the use of a full range of pesticides and means of mechanization, as a result of which there was an exponential increase in the cost of exhaustible resources for each additional unit of harvest, including food calories.

This was achieved thanks to the transfer of target genes into the created varieties in order to increase the strength of the stem by shortening it, to achieve light neutrality to expand the cultivation area and efficient utilization of minerals, especially nitrogen fertilizers. The transfer of selected genes, albeit within species, using traditional hybridization techniques, can be seen as a prototype of transgenesis.

The ideologist of the Green Revolution, Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Prize for its results in 1970, warned that increasing yields by traditional methods could provide food for 6-7 billion people. The preservation of demographic growth requires new technologies to create highly productive varieties of plants, animal breeds and strains of microorganisms. In an address to the Genetic Engineering Forum held in March 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand, Borlaug stated that "either already developed or we are in the final stages of developing technologies that will feed a population of more than 10 billion people."

The work begun by N. Borlaug and his colleagues in Mexico in 1944 demonstrated the extremely high efficiency of purposeful breeding in creating high-yielding varieties of agricultural plants. Already by the end of the 60s, the widespread use of new varieties of wheat and rice allowed many countries of the world (Mexico, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, the Philippines, etc.) to increase the yield of these important crops 2-3 times or more. However, the negative aspects of the "green revolution" were soon revealed, caused by the fact that it was mainly technological, not biological. The replacement of genetically diverse local varieties with new high-yielding varieties and hybrids with a high degree of nuclear and cytoplasmic homogeneity significantly increased the biological vulnerability of agrocenoses, which was the inevitable result of the impoverishment of the species composition and genetic diversity of agroecosystems. The massive spread of harmful species, as a rule, was facilitated by high doses of nitrogen fertilizers, irrigation, thickening of crops, the transition to monoculture, minimal and no tillage systems, etc.

Comparison of the "green revolution" with the ongoing biotechnological revolution was carried out in order to show that socially significant component that underlies all gene-chromosomal manipulations. It is about how to provide the world's population with food, create more effective medicine, and optimize environmental conditions.

Modern varieties allow to increase the average yield due to more efficient ways of growing and caring for plants, due to their greater resistance to insect pests and major diseases. However, they only allow you to get a noticeably larger yield when they are provided with proper care, the implementation of agricultural techniques in accordance with the calendar and the stage of plant development (fertilization, watering, soil moisture control and pest control). All these procedures remain absolutely necessary for transgenic varieties obtained in recent years.

Moreover, radical changes in the care of plants, an increase in the culture of crop production become simply necessary if farmers begin to cultivate modern high-yielding varieties. For example, fertilization and regular watering, so necessary to obtain high yields, simultaneously create favorable conditions for the development of weeds, insect pests and a number of common plant diseases. With the introduction of new varieties, additional measures are required to combat weeds, pests and diseases, the dependence of the productivity of agroecosystems on technogenic factors is increasing, processes are accelerating and the scale of pollution and environmental destruction increases.

Despite the significant successes of the Green Revolution, the battle for food security for hundreds of millions of people in the poorest countries is far from over.

From the book Moral Animal author Wright Robert

A Silent Revolution Today, a new generation of Darwinian social scientists are battling a doctrine that has dominated the social sciences for most of this century. Her idea is that biology doesn't really matter, that a uniquely educated

From the book Seeds of Destruction. The secret background of genetic manipulation author Engdahl William Frederick

The Green Revolution Opens the Door The Rockefeller Green Revolution began in Mexico and spread throughout Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s. Shortly thereafter, it was rolled out in India and other regions of Asia with the support of the John D.

From the book Our Posthuman Future [Consequences of the Biotechnological Revolution] author Fukuyama Francis

Chapter 9: World Food Revolution Begins Argentina Becomes First Guinea Pig By the end of the 1980s, a network of committed and genetically educated molecular biologists had grown stronger. Giant Rockefeller

From the book Brain and Soul [How Nervous Activity Shapes Our Inner World] by Frith Chris

The Rockefeller Land Revolution in Argentina By the mid-1990s, the Menem government began to restructure Argentina's traditional productive agriculture to cultivate monoculture with a focus on global exports. The script was again

From the book Earth in Bloom author Safonov Vadim Andreevich

A Revolution in Cognitive Neuroscience The first path to the future is not about technology at all, but about the accumulation of knowledge about genetics and behavior. Many of the foreseeable benefits of the Human Genome Project are not related to genetic engineering, but to genomics - that is,

From the book The Story of One Accident [or The Origin of Man] author Vishnyatsky Leonid Borisovich

The Information Revolution The main components of the brain were discovered by neurophysiologists in the late 19th century. The fine structure of the brain was established by examining thin sections of brain tissue under a microscope. These sections were stained in various ways to see

From the book Journey to the Land of Microbes author Betina Vladimir

BATTLEFIELD. A GREEN COUNTRY OUR NEIGHBORS We live in the middle of a Green Land. This country is unimaginably large. Its inhabitants constantly surround us, we trample them on poorly cleaned paths. Annoyingly, we throw it away along with the stale bread crust, covered with bluish

From the book Treasures of the animal world author Sanderson Ivan T

A GREEN COUNTRY CHANGES BORDERS

From the book Reading Between the Lines of DNA [The Second Code of Our Life, or The Book That Everyone Should Read] author Spork Peter

From the book The Universe Within Us [What Stones, Planets and People Have in Common] author Shubin Nil

Revolution in medicine In order for an antibiotic to be used as a medicine, it must meet many requirements: it must act only on pathogens, be stable, easily absorbed by the body, and after fulfilling its

From the book In the footsteps of the past author Yakovleva Irina Nikolaevna

Meeting with bush-eared pigs. Green mamba. Ants. Other biting creatures (horseflies and gadflies) The world of great forests is a true paradise for those who are not afraid to take the trouble to solve its secrets. Among the solid mass of greenery surrounding on all sides, I always felt

From the book Virolution. The Most Important Book on Evolution Since The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins by Ryan Frank

Foreword. Revolution! If we were computers, our genes would make up the hardware. It would be natural to assume the existence of software - it is it that epigenetics have been trying to decipher for several years now - yes, not genetics, namely

From the book Tunnel of Ego author Metzinger Thomas

Revolution Stafford is located in downtown Kansas, a little closer to the southern border. Its population does not exceed a thousand families, and the school is so small that there are only eight players on football teams. At the beginning of the 20th century, members of the Newell family were known in the city as

From the author's book

Chapter II SKELETAL REVOLUTION Do you often have to give exact dates, like: "Do you remember how June 6, 1975 ..."? Probably not often. Each family has its own time count, its own chronology. When they say: “It was when we returned from the camp, but had not yet moved to a new

From the author's book

14. The Coming Revolution The importance of the epigenome in the pathogenesis of common human diseases is probably as significant as the role of mutations. AG Wilson Blue-headed wrasse lives on the coral reefs of the Caribbean Sea. Daring and aggressive males

From the author's book

Part Three The Revolution of Consciousness

The need to carry out the "green revolution" in developing countries was caused, first of all, by a small amount of land and a large population. Such an imbalance threatened mass death from hunger. At that time, it was necessary to take some kind of constructive solution to the acute problem of hunger.

The "green revolution" began in Mexico with the development of new varieties of grain crops that are more resistant to the local climate and their further large-scale cultivation. The Mexicans cultivated several high-yielding wheat varieties. Further, the "green revolution" swept the Philippines, South Asia, India, etc. In these countries, in addition to wheat, rice, corn and some other agricultural crops were grown. At the same time, rice and wheat were still the main ones.

Producers used improved irrigation systems, as only a consistently supplied and sufficient amount of water can ensure normal crop growth. In addition, the process of planting and collection was mechanized as much as possible, although in some places human labor was still used. Also, in order to improve quality and protect against pests, various pesticides and fertilizers began to be used in acceptable quantities.

Achievements and consequences of the "green revolution"

The Green Revolution, of course, has led to increased yields and a boost in agriculture in these countries. It made it possible to increase the export of cultivated crops and, thus, to a certain extent, solve the problem of feeding the growing population of the planet.

However, such an intensive application of scientific advances in the agricultural sector required considerable financial investments and, ultimately, led to a sharp increase in the prices of crops grown. At the same time, small producers and poor farmers could not at all use the latest scientific developments in growing fruitful varieties of agricultural products due to the lack of financial resources. Many of them had to give up this type of activity and sell their business.

The green revolution has only partially achieved its primary goal of feeding the starving populations of developing countries, despite a marked increase in yields. The poor could not afford to buy such expensive products. Therefore, most of it was exported.

The Green Revolution has also led to dire environmental consequences. These are desertification, violation of the water regime, concentration of heavy metals and salts in the soil, etc.

One of the main problems posed by the demographic situation in the world is the provision of food for a rapidly growing population. Every year 90-100 million new eaters appear in the world, and the world community, with all its technological power, cannot yet adequately feed even those hungry who already exist. No country in the world has yet succeeded in improving welfare and economic development without a preliminary sharp increase in food production, the main source of which has always been agriculture.

The food problem is multifaceted, it has social, economic and environmental aspects. Until the twentieth century, most people on the planet did not have enough food for a normal or even tolerable life. From hunger, the extreme manifestation of the food problem, in the 20s. XX century. 2/3 of humanity suffered. At the end of the century, this share fell to 1/4 of the world's population, but taking into account the population explosion, the absolute number of hungry people did not decrease. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), more than 1 billion people are currently undernourished and starving in the world, about 10 million people die of hunger every year and 100 million are under threat of death. The number of people whose food calorie content is less than the critical norm (1400-1600 kcal / day) is about 700 million people. (For comparison, the calorie content of the food of the prisoners of Auschwitz was approximately 1,700 kcal.)

Note, however, that for economically developed countries, where less than 15% of the world's population lives, the phenomenon of hunger or malnutrition is not typical. In the USA and France, the level of food self-sufficiency exceeds 100%, in Germany it is 93%, in Italy - 78%. These countries now produce and consume more than 3/4 of the world's food. Overeating and overweight are becoming characteristic of their inhabitants. The total number of such overeating people is estimated at 600 million people - about 10% of the world's population. In the United States, more than half of people aged 20 and over fall into this category.

Agriculture is the main source of food for humans. At the same time, fertile plowed soils are the main resource of agriculture. But the area of \u200b\u200barable land is constantly decreasing. This process is especially intensive at the present time - huge areas of arable land are rejected for the construction of cities, industrial enterprises, roads, "eaten" by ravines.

Desertification processes cause great damage to agricultural lands: deflation and erosion are accelerating, and vegetation is being destroyed. As a result of the haphazard use in the entire history of civilization, about 2 billion hectares of productive land turned into deserts: at the dawn of agriculture, productive land amounted to about 4.5 billion hectares, and now there are about 2.5 billion hectares.

The area of \u200b\u200banthropogenic deserts is approximately 10 million km 2, or 6.7% of the entire land surface. The process of desertification is progressing at a rate of 6.9 million hectares per year and is already going beyond the landscapes of the arid zone. About 30 million km 2 (about 19%) of land are under the threat of desertification.

The Sahara, the world's greatest desert (9.1 million km 2), is threateningly expanding its borders. According to official data from the authorities of Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan, the rate of annual advancement of the Sahara edge is from 1.5 to 10 m. Over the past 50 years, its area has increased by 700 thousand km 2. But relatively recently, in the III millennium BC, the territory of the Sahara was a savanna with a dense hydrographic network. Nowadays, the sand cover there reaches half a meter in height.

Along with the absolute reduction in the area of \u200b\u200bagricultural land, there is a relative decrease in connection with the rapid growth of the world's population. Currently, there are about 0.3 hectares of arable land per inhabitant of the planet. (For comparison and feeding of patriotic feelings, we note that in Russia this value is about 0.9 hectares!)

It is believed that if 1 ton of grain is harvested per person per year from 1 hectare, then there will be no problem of hunger. The six billionth population of the planet needs 6 billion tons of grain, and only about 2 billion is collected. One of the reasons for this is the small area of \u200b\u200barable land per person and their overall low productivity. The earth today is not able to feed all its inhabitants.

There is also another calculation. In the biosphere, mankind occupies the top of the ecological pyramid and therefore should form a biomass that is substantially less than the biomass of the living matter of the biosphere as a whole. According to a number of ecologists, the biosphere remains stable if there is at least 250 t / year of living matter per capita. Taking into account the total bioproduction of the biosphere, the permissible population of our planet is 3-4 billion people.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that global environmental problems (including food) began to manifest themselves precisely after the total number of people on Earth exceeded this limit. Now, every year, with the exponential growth of the population, the severity of these problems is increasing.

Until the middle of the XX century. few people thought about the fact that production cannot grow infinitely and will surely come across limited natural resources, including soil, necessary for agriculture.

Analysis of the situation shows that extensive path the solution of the food problem by expanding the area for agricultural products, the development of the still available reserve lands is unpromising. The rate of such growth is lagging behind and will lag behind the rate of population growth. It is predicted that the global per capita indicator of arable land provision by the middle of this century will decrease threefold.

These circumstances are directly related to the attempt to solve the food problem. intensivelynamed "green revolution" ... This was the name of the breakthrough achieved in food production on the planet in the 1960s. The "father" of the "green revolution" is the American scientist-breeder prof. Norman E. Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Due to mechanization, chemicalization, irrigation, increasing the power supply of farms, the use of new, higher-yielding and more disease-resistant varieties of agricultural crops, the most productive breeds of livestock, it was possible to increase agricultural production from the same and even smaller areas.

The Green Revolution temporarily removed the problem of hunger in tropical regions of the world. The widespread proliferation of high-yielding and low-growing wheat and rice varieties in the most food insecure tropical regions of Asia and Africa have helped many developing countries overcome the threat of hunger for some time.

The 1974 World Food Conference in Rome announced the decision to end hunger within a decade. The main hopes at that time were pinned on the intensification of agriculture through the development of new highly productive varieties of plants and animal breeds, chemicalization of agriculture, the use of powerful equipment and new technologies. However, exactly 10 years after the conference and 14 years after Borlaug received the Nobel Prize, in 1984, there was a sharp aggravation of the food crisis, caused primarily by the most severe drought in the Sahel region of Africa, which claimed millions of lives.

Despite the achievements of the "green revolution", a rather difficult food situation persists to this day. There are more malnourished and hungry people around the globe than ever before, and their numbers are growing. The famine zone covers a huge territory on both sides of the equator, including Asia, primarily its southeastern part, the Caribbean and South America, and almost all of Africa south of the Sahara. In the latter region, there are countries (Chad, Somalia, Uganda, Mozambique, etc.), where the share of hungry and malnourished people is 30–40% of the population.

Scientists and practitioners, politicians and economists dealing with the food problem believe that the "green revolution" has failed, and they see several reasons for this.

Modern new varieties of cultivated plants by themselves cannot provide miraculous results. They need proper care, strict implementation of agrotechnical techniques in accordance with the calendar and the stage of plant development (rationing of fertilizers, watering with moisture control, weed control and pest control, etc.).

New varieties of cereals are very sensitive to fertilizers, in addition, they need more water than old ones to realize their potential; they are more susceptible to disease. This means that the farmer must have special knowledge of growing new varieties, as well as funds for the purchase of fertilizers, irrigation mechanisms, and pesticides. When all this was done under the guidance of specialists and within the framework of the International Agricultural Program, the positive result was evident. However, in areas remote from civilization in Asia, Africa and South America, the technologies of the "green revolution" were not available to most peasants. The rural population of the third world countries turned out to be unprepared for the technological revolution, which is characteristic of the agriculture of economically developed countries.

When assessing the possibilities of an intensive path of development, it should also be borne in mind that the potential of mechanization, irrigation, chemicalization is currently largely exhausted. For example, there has been a sharp decline in irrigated areas due to limited water resources.

The German philosopher F. Engels in his "Dialectics of Nature" warned "... not to be too deluded by our victories over nature. For each such she takes revenge on us. Each of these victories has, however, first of all the consequences that we expected, but second and third, completely different, unforeseen consequences, which very often destroy the consequences of the former. "

The Green Revolution also had unintended consequences. First of all, this is soil salinization caused by poorly designed and maintained irrigation systems, as well as pollution of soils and surface water bodies, largely due to the improper use of fertilizers and crop protection chemicals.

By using chemicals for their intended purpose, it is generally impossible to prevent their release into the air, soil or water. These substances can harm humans, animals, plants, microorganisms, as well as buildings and structures, machines and mechanisms.

The harm caused to living objects of the environment is caused, in particular, by the fact that these chemicals are toxic (poisonous), carcinogenic (capable of causing cancer), mutagenic (capable of affecting heredity), teratogenic (capable of causing deformities), etc. The consequences of simultaneous exposure to the environment of several substances are still poorly understood.

Some harmful chemical compounds, once in the natural cycle, turn into harmless, while others retain their properties for years and decades. These latter, even with a small degree of their concentration in the environment, having entered a living organism (man, animal or plant), are almost not excreted from it or excreted very slowly. Cumulation of these substances occurs, and their concentration becomes dangerous.

New grain varieties are very sensitive to fertilizers. In fact, high yields can only be obtained by applying a large amount of fertilizer. Especially widespread are inexpensive nitrogen fertilizers based on synthetic ammonia, which have become an integral attribute of modern crop production technologies. Today, over 80 million tons of nitrogen fertilizers are consumed in the world annually. According to experts who study nitrogen cycles in nature, at least 40% of the 6 billion people who inhabit the planet today are alive only thanks to the discovery of ammonia synthesis. It would be completely impossible to introduce this amount of nitrogen into the soil using organic fertilizers.

High doses of mineral fertilizers often degrade the quality of agricultural products, especially in arid regions, where the mechanisms of microbiological denitrification are suppressed. The consumption of such products by animals and humans leads to indigestion, acute poisoning.

Mineral fertilizers have a direct and indirect effect on the properties of soils, on the development of biological processes in natural waters. Studies have shown that long-term application of such fertilizers without liming causes an increase in soil acidity, accumulation of toxic compounds of aluminum and manganese in them, which reduces fertility and leads to soil degradation.

Fertilizers are washed away from the fields when they are irrationally used or, undigested by plants, are washed out of the soil by abundant rains and get into groundwater and surface water bodies.

The ions of nitrates, phosphates, ammonium present in fertilizers, getting into water bodies with wastewater, contribute to their overgrowth with phytoplankton.

For the normal functioning of aquatic ecosystems, they must be oligotrophic, i.e. poor in nutrients. In this case, there is a dynamic balance of all groups of organisms in the ecosystem - producers, consumers and decomposers. When nitrates and especially phosphates enter water bodies, the rate of production - photosynthesis of organic matter by phytoplankton - begins to exceed the rate of consumption of phytoplankton by zooplankton and other organisms. The reservoir “blooms” - blue-green algae begin to predominate in phytoplankton, some of them give the water an unpleasant odor and taste, and can release toxic substances. Favorable conditions are formed for the vital activity of anaerobic organisms. With the decomposition of algae as a result of a number of interconnected fermentation processes in water, the concentration of free carbon dioxide, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide increases. The phenomenon of water saturation with nutrients, contributing to the increased growth of algae and bacteria that consume decaying algae and absorb oxygen, and leading to the death of higher aquatic biota, is called eutrophication.

Dependence of phytoplankton growth on phosphate content in water

Soluble nitrogen compounds not only contribute to the overgrowth of water bodies (like phosphates), but also increase the toxicity of water, making it dangerous to human health if such water is used as drinking water. Getting into the saliva and small intestine together with food, nitrates are microbiologically reduced to nitrites, as a result, nitrosilions are formed in the blood, which can oxidize iron Fe (II) in blood hemoglobin to iron Fe (III), which prevents the binding of oxygen by hemoglobin. As a result, symptoms of oxygen deprivation occur, leading to cyanosis. When 60–80% of iron (II) hemoglobin passes into iron (III), death occurs.

In addition, nitrites form nitrous acid and nitrosamines (together with organic amines from animal and plant foods) in the acidic environment of the stomach, which have a mutagenic effect. Note also that the water of eutrophied reservoirs is aggressive with respect to concrete, destroys materials used in hydraulic construction, clogs filters and pipelines of water intake devices.

The widespread use of pesticides was an integral part of the program to increase crop yields under the Green Revolution.

Pesticides have been used before, they were so-called. First generation pesticides are toxic inorganic substances that include arsenic, cyanide, and some heavy metals such as mercury or copper. They had low efficiency and did not save from catastrophic crop losses, such as the defeat of late blight potatoes in almost all of Europe in the middle of the 19th century, which caused a massive famine. In addition, these pesticides altered the mineral and biotic composition of the soil so that in some places it is still sterile.

They were replaced by second-generation pesticides based on synthetic organic compounds. DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloromethylmethane) played a special role among them. The study of the properties of this substance back in the 1930s. studied by the Swiss chemist Paul Müller.

DDT turned out to be a substance that is extremely toxic to many insect pests, relatively harmless, as it seemed, to humans and other mammals, persistent (it was difficult to break down and provided long-term protection from insect pests) and relatively cheap to manufacture. DDT has also been shown to be effective against infectious insects. Thanks to the widespread use of DDT, organized by the World Health Organization at the United Nations (WHO), mortality from malaria has been noticeably reduced, millions of lives have been saved.

The virtues of DDT seemed so undeniable that Müller received the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1948. However, over the next two decades, serious negative consequences of the use of DDT were discovered. Accumulating in the trophic chains, chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT and a family of similar pesticides) became dangerous toxicants, reducing disease resistance, negatively affecting reproductive capacity and thermoregulation. Numerous cases of death of various aquatic biota (river and sea), birds and other animals were noted. For example, DDT, brought by rivers into the ocean, killed predators that fed on the eggs of starfish "crown of thorns". As a result, these previously rare marine life multiplied in such numbers that they began to threaten the ecological balance, destroying hundreds of square kilometers of coral reefs. In the early 1970s. the use of DDT was banned in most developed countries (including the USSR, where it was widely used in cotton fields).

In addition, pesticides adversely affect the health of primarily the rural population, people employed in agricultural work. According to WHO estimates, they still kill 20 thousand people annually and cause poisoning in millions of people, mainly in developing countries.

Currently, more and more attention is paid to ecological methods of pest control, based on finding natural enemies and "set" them on the pest, without affecting other species. According to entomologists, only one hundredth of the thousands of known species of herbivorous insects are serious pests, while the rest are kept by one or more natural enemies at such a low level that they cannot cause significant damage. Thus, it is not pest control that comes first, but the protection of their natural enemies.

However, one should also remember about the unpredictability of artificial interference in stable biocenoses. Here is a textbook example: immediately after the Second World War, on the recommendation of WHO for the fight against malaria, DDT was sprayed on the island of Kalimantan (Indonesia). The mosquitoes killed by the insecticide were eaten by cockroaches. They themselves did not die, but became slow and were eaten in large numbers by lizards. In the lizards themselves, DDT caused nervous breakdowns, weakening of reactions, and they became victims of cats.

The extermination of lizards by cats led to the reproduction of caterpillars, which began to eat the reed roofs of the aborigines. The death of cats, which eventually also poisoned with DDT, led to the fact that the villages were flooded with rats living in symbiosis with fleas carrying plague sticks. Instead of malaria, the inhabitants of the island received another, more terrible disease - the plague.

WHO stopped its experiment and brought cats to the island, which restored ecological balance in ecosystems on it. Cat rat troops landed on small islands in Japan in 1961 and on islands in Malaysia in 1984 and 1989.

The failures of third world countries and international organizations that promote their development, trying to achieve an adequate return on investments in agriculture within the framework of the "green revolution", indicate, according to many experts, the need second green revolution ... Now the focus is on new biotechnologies, including genetic (genetic) engineering.

Over the past 30 years, biotechnology has evolved into a scientific method for researching and producing agricultural products. However, the attitude towards genetic engineering is still ambiguous among both producers and consumers of agricultural products.

Proponents of plant genetic modification argue that selection at the molecular level makes it possible to create varieties that are resistant to pests, diseases and herbicides, to a lack or excess of moisture in the soil, to heat or cold. It also makes it possible to widely use local plant varieties that are best adapted to the specific climatic conditions of the region, which contributes to the conservation of biological diversity as an important factor in sustainable development. It is argued that new varieties can be imparted with high nutritional and other health benefits. Opponents of the creation of genetically modified plants and genetically modified food products, belonging mainly to "green" organizations, consider this last statement the most controversial and dangerous threat to humans and nature, since the consequences of such modifications are unpredictable. At the large-scale World Forum of Producers in Turin (Italy), 5 thousand participants from 180 countries came to the unequivocal conclusion: GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are worthless, they are harmful to the environment, to human and animal health. In the USA, where the world's first genetically modified product (tomatoes) went on sale a decade and a half ago, now 20% of the cultivated area is allotted for the production of environmentally friendly products.

According to A. Baranov, President of the National Association for Genetic Safety, the rejection of transgenic products taking place all over the world is a “revolution from below”, consumers vote against them with their wallets, for environmentally friendly products not only without pesticides, but also without GMOs. Nevertheless, for 10 years now, in all boiled sausages that we buy and eat in Russia, the filler that determines both color and taste is GM corn and GM soy.

Disputes about genetically modified organisms continue, they are not only applied - scientific and economic, but also philosophical and even political.

Pesticides are substances used to control pests and weeds. They are divided into groups depending on the organisms for which they are intended to fight. For example, herbicides kill plants, insecticides kill insects.