Non-state educational institution
secondary vocational education
Vologda Cooperative College

abstract
About the Green Revolution
in the discipline "Ecological fundamentals of nature management"

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

Vologda
2010
Table of contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3
Agriculture- view human activity………………………4
Pros and Cons of Biotechnology……………………………………………………...5
The consequences of the "green" revolution………………………………………………….6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….7
References………………………………………………………………………8

"Green revolution

The "Green" revolution is a set of changes in the agriculture of developing countries that led to a significant increase in world agricultural production, which included the active breeding of more productive plant varieties, the use of fertilizers, and modern technology.
The "green" revolution is one of the forms of manifestation of the scientific and technological revolution, i.e. intensive development of agriculture through:
1) technization of agriculture (use of machinery and equipment);
2) the use of artificially bred varieties of plants and animals;
3) use of fertilizers and pesticides;
4) melioration (expansion of irrigated lands).
There are two "green revolutions".
The first "green" revolution took place in 40-70. XX century, its initiator was a major Mexican breeder Norman Ernest Borlaug. He saved as many people from starvation as no one could 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 that it was it that 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 to export it; over 15 years, the grain yield in the country has increased 3 times. Borlaug's designs were used in breeding work in Colombia, India, Pakistan, in 1970 Borlaug received Nobel Prize peace.
By the mid-1980s, scientists were talking about a second "green" revolution, which should occur if agriculture takes the path of reducing anthropogenic energy inputs. It is based on an adaptive approach, i.e. agriculture needs to shift towards more environmentally friendly crop and livestock farming technologies.
The "green" revolution allowed 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 has increased by 25% in developing countries. Critics of the Green Revolution have attempted to focus public attention on the overabundance of new cultivars that were purported to be an end in themselves, as if these cultivars themselves could produce such miraculous results. Of course, modern varieties allow you to increase the average yield due to more effective ways growing and caring for plants, due to their greater resistance to insect pests and major diseases. However, they only then allow you to get a noticeably larger yield when they are provided with proper care, the implementation of agricultural practices 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, at the same time 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 use of methods of "environmentally friendly" combating the consequences of anthropogenic interference in ecosystems. For example, after total deforestation, a gross violation of the local biocenosis, ecosystem occurs. Moisture stagnation and soil bogging occur in humid zones. Such water can become a source of harmful insects - bloodsuckers and disease carriers. Some fish are fighters of the larvae of harmful insects living in water, such as larvae of mosquitoes, midges. Thus, the main trends of the second "green" revolution are the minimal impact on the natural environment, the reduction of anthropogenic energy investments, the use of biological methods to control plant pests.
Nearly all of our traditional foods are the result of natural mutations and genetic transformation that drive evolution. Primitive people, who first traced 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 selection using the most prolific and strongest 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. selection occurred 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 of an art than a science. Skills, knowledge and specific experience, often classified, were the property of individual farms, passing from generation to generation.
Agriculture is a kind of human activity.

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

Pros and cons of biotechnology.

Over the past 35 years, biotechnology, using recombinant (obtained by joining together unnaturally occurring fragments) DNA, has become an invaluable new scientific method for researching and producing agricultural products. This unprecedented penetration into the depths of the genome - to the molecular level - should be regarded 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 at a time”, 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 the most different types plants. This genetic transformation holds enormous benefits for agricultural producers, in particular by increasing plant resistance to insect pests, diseases and herbicides. Additional benefits are associated with the breeding of varieties that are more resistant to 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 of agricultural biotechnology to provide such plants that will be used as medicines or vaccines look more and 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 proving too expensive and difficult to implement. This line of research should 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 need to develop reasonable regulatory mechanisms to most effectively guide the development of production, testing and use of GM products to protect 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 past investments and ensure their growth in the future.
The current fierce debate about transgenic crops is focused on the safety of GMOs. Concern about the potential dangers of GMOs is based largely on the notion that the introduction of "foreign" DNA into the main varieties of food crops is "unnatural" and, therefore, is accompanied by an unavoidable health risk. But since all living organisms, including food plants, animals, microbes, etc., contain DNA, how can recombinant DNA be considered "unnatural"? Even defining the concept of "alien gene" is problematic, since many genes turn out to be common to a wide variety of organisms. The requirements for GM products are much higher than for varieties obtained as a result of conventional breeding and even breeding in which mutations are caused by irradiation or the use of chemicals. At the same time, society must be clearly aware that there is no “zero biological risk” in nature, the idea of ​​​​which is just the embodiment of the “precautionary principle” not based on any scientific data.

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:
-chemicalization

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 activities and is accompanied by a decrease in humus content, destruction of soil structure and a decrease in fertility.

The main resource of the agrosystem - 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 soil to provide plants with the necessary amount of nutrients, water and air.
Fertility depends on the stock of organic substances - humus, the content of nutrients available to plants, and moisture supply. As a result of the application mineral fertilizers microorganisms that destroy humus are activated, i.e. soil fertility is declining.

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

Conclusion.

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

Literature.

Arustamov - "Ecological foundations of nature management".
M.V. Galperin - "Ecological foundations of nature management".

The concept of the "green revolution"

In the middle of the nineteenth century in agriculture developed countries chemical fertilizers began to be actively used, which, together with other scientific and technological achievements, made it possible to increase grain yields in some European countries to 80–90 centners per hectare - ten times more than in the Middle Ages. Since the middle of the 20th century, chemical fertilizers have been widely used in developing countries, which has made it possible to significantly increase crop yields. Along with the introduction of agrochemistry important role played the breeding and distribution of new high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat. A sharp jump in agricultural productivity growth

Farms in developing countries in the 1960s - 70s was 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 with an unusual reddish color were bred. Then they became widespread in India, Pakistan, and some other Asian countries. At about the same time in the Philippines, it was possible to develop a variety of "miracle - rice", which also provides a large increase in yield.

Certainly, social consequences"Green Revolution"

It was possible to reduce the acuteness of the food problem,

It became possible to free some people from agriculture,

The process of urbanization has increased

There was an influx of workers industrial enterprises,

People have become more mobile.

However, already in the period of 1970-80s, it became obvious and negative consequences"green revolution", which manifested itself both in the environment (in the state of soil, water and biodiversity), and reflected in human health. The runoff of mineral nutrition elements from the fields to water bodies has increased (from an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus, “explosive” reproduction of phytoplankton occurs, changes in the quality of drinking water, death of fish and other animals). The runoff of sulfates from terrestrial agrocenoses to 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 were polluted. A significant number of wild

and domestic species of plants and animals disappeared forever. Residues of harmful pesticides in food and drinking water endangered the health of farmers

and consumers.

Significance and environmental role of fertilizer and pesticide use

Pesticides

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

Pesticides classify depending on the groups of organisms on which they act:

1. Herbicides - for the destruction of weeds;

2. Zoocides - for rodent control;

3. Fungicides - against pathogens of fungal diseases;

4. Defoliants - to remove leaves;

5. Deflorants - to remove excess flowers, etc.

Search effective means for pest control are still ongoing.

At first, substances containing heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and mercury were used. These inorganic compounds often call first generation pesticides. 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, after 50 years, they still remain barren. These pesticides have lost their effectiveness as pests become resistant to them.

Second generation pesticides- based on synthetic organic compounds. In 1930 a Swiss chemist Paul Müller began systematically studying 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, broad spectrum, and difficult to degrade in the environment, providing long lasting protection.

The advantages seemed so outstanding that in 1948 Muller received the Nobel Prize for his discovery.

Subsequently, it was found that DDT accumulates in food chains and the human body (found in the milk of nursing mothers, in fatty tissues). DDT has now been phased out worldwide.

The agrochemical industry has replaced second-generation pesticides - non-persistent pesticides are synthetic organic matter, decomposing into simple non-toxic products within a few days or weeks after application. This is for now the best option, although there are also disadvantages - some are more toxic than DDT, violate the ecosystem of the treated area, beneficial insects may be no less sensitive to non-persistent pesticides than pests.

The main consequences of the use of pesticides in agriculture:

1.Pesticides kill and beneficial species insects, sometimes representing excellent conditions to propagate new agricultural pests;

2) Many types of pesticides are harmful to soil organisms that are essential for plant health;

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

4) Some pesticides remain in food and drinking water;

5) Many pesticides are very persistent and can accumulate in the human body and show negative effects only over time. Some pesticides can cause chronic diseases, abnormalities in newborns, cancer and other diseases.

The noted circumstances led to the fact that some

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

fertilizers

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

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

Mineral fertilizers- extracted from the bowels or industrially obtained chemical compounds, contain the main nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and microelements important for life (copper, boron, manganese).

organic fertilizers- this is 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 began to spread among farmers and buyers.

However, the so-called "boom" of organic agriculture began only in the 1990s, which was associated with a reaction to the accumulated world ecological problems and food scandals. Residents of developed countries were willing to pay more for high-quality goods. The states of some countries began to give Special attention development of this area of ​​agriculture. During the same period, a number of innovative technologies for organic farming(particularly biological pest control), institutes and research centers are developing in the field of organic agriculture research.

Questions

1. What is the purpose of the Green Revolution?

2. What are the ways to carry out the "green revolution".

3. What are the pros and cons of the accomplishment of the "green revolution".

4. Define the terms - pesticides and fertilizers.

5. Name the main groups of pesticides.

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

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

The Crisis of Agrarian Civilization and Genetically Modified Organisms Glazko Valeriy Ivanovich

"Green revolution"

"Green revolution"

The forerunner of 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 US Agency for international development V. Goud, trying to characterize the breakthrough achieved in food production on the planet due to the wide distribution of new highly productive and low-growing varieties of wheat and rice in Asian countries suffering from food shortages. Many journalists then sought to describe the "green revolution" as a massive transfer advanced technologies, developed in the most developed agrosystems that received consistently high yields, on the fields of peasants in the countries of the "third world". She marked the beginning new era development of agriculture on the planet, an era in which agricultural science was able to offer a number of improved technologies in accordance with specific conditions characteristic of farms in developing countries. This required the introduction of large doses of mineral fertilizers and ameliorants, the use of a full range of pesticides and mechanization, as a result, there was an exponential increase in the cost of exhaustible resources for each additional unit of crop, including food calories.

This has been achieved by transferring targeted genes into the developed varieties to increase the strength of the stem by shortening it, achieve neutrality to the photoperiod to expand the cultivation area and efficient utilization of minerals, especially nitrogen fertilizers. The transfer of selected genes, albeit within species, using traditional methods of hybridization, can be considered as a prototype of transgenesis.

The ideologue of the Green Revolution, Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Prize for its results in 1970, warned that increasing productivity traditional methods can provide food for 6-7 billion people. Maintaining demographic growth requires new technologies in the creation of highly productive plant varieties, animal breeds and strains of microorganisms. In an address to a genetic engineering forum held in March 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand, Borlaug stated that "either we have 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 exceptionally high efficiency targeted breeding to create high-yielding varieties of agricultural plants. By the end of the 60s wide use 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 by 2-3 or more times. However, they soon discovered negative sides"Green Revolution", caused by the fact that it was mainly technological, not biological. Replacement of genetically diverse landraces with new high-yielding varieties and hybrids a high degree nuclear and cytoplasmic homogeneity significantly increased the biological vulnerability of agrocenoses, which was an inevitable result of the impoverishment of the species composition and genetic diversity of agroecosystems. The mass spread of harmful species, as a rule, was also facilitated by high doses of nitrogen fertilizers, irrigation, thickening of crops, the transition to monoculture, minimum and zero tillage systems, etc.

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

Modern cultivars allow for higher average yields 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 a noticeably higher yield when they are properly cared for, the implementation of agricultural practices 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 last years transgenic varieties.

Moreover, radical changes in plant care and crop culture become essential if farmers start growing modern high-yielding varieties. For example, fertilization and regular watering, so necessary for obtaining high yields, simultaneously create favorable conditions for the development of weeds, insect pests and a number of common plant diseases. When introducing new varieties, it is necessary additional measures 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 environmental pollution and destruction is increasing.

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.

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

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

Improved irrigation systems have been used by growers, as only a steady and sufficient supply of water can ensure normal crop growth. In addition, the planting and collection process was mechanized to the maximum, although human labor was still used in places. Also, in order to improve the 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, led to an increase in productivity and the rise of agriculture in these countries. It made it possible to increase the export of cultivated crops and, thereby, to a certain extent, solve the problem of nutrition of the growing population of the planet.

However, such extensive use scientific achievements in the agricultural sector required considerable financial investments and, ultimately, led to a sharp increase in prices for cultivated crops. At the same time, small producers and poor farmers could not at all use the latest scientific developments in growing productive varieties of agricultural products due to lack of financial opportunities. Many of them had to abandon this type of activity and sell their business.

The Green Revolution achieved only part of its primary goal of feeding the starving populations of developing countries, despite a notable increase in crop yields. The poor could not afford to buy such expensive products. Therefore, it was mostly exported.

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

One of the main problems generated 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 ones that already exist. No country in the world has yet succeeded in increasing prosperity and achieving economic development without first drastically increasing 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, an extreme manifestation of the food problem, in the 20s. 20th century 2/3 of mankind suffered. At the end of the century, this proportion had dropped to 1/4 of the world's population, but given the population explosion, the absolute number of hungry people has not decreased. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), more than 1 billion people are currently undernourished and hungry in the world, about 10 million people die of hunger every year and 100 million are at risk 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 1700 kcal.)

Note, however, that for economically developed countries, in which 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 become characteristic of their inhabitants. The total number of such overeaters 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 serve as the main resource for agriculture. But the area of ​​arable land is constantly decreasing. This process is especially intensive at the present time - huge areas of arable land are being torn away for the construction of cities, industrial enterprises, roads, "eaten up" by ravines.

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

The area of ​​anthropogenic deserts is approximately 10 million km2, or 6.7% of the entire land surface. The desertification process is proceeding 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 the 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 savannah with a dense hydrographic network. Now there is a sand cover up to half a meter high.

Along with the absolute reduction in the area of ​​agricultural land, there is a relative decrease due to 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 nourishment 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 1 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 are harvested. One of the reasons for this is the small area of ​​arable land per person and their generally low productivity. The earth today is not able to feed all its inhabitants.

There is another calculation. In the biosphere, humanity occupies the top of the ecological pyramid and therefore must form a biomass significantly smaller 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 are at least 250 tons/year of living matter per capita. Taking into account the total bioproduction of the biosphere, the allowable 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, in the face of exponential population growth, the severity of these problems is increasing.

Until the middle of the XX century. Few people thought about the fact that production cannot increase indefinitely and will inevitably run into limitations. natural resources, including soil, necessary for agriculture.

An analysis of the situation shows that extensive way solving the food problem by expanding the areas for agricultural products, the development of the still available reserve lands is unpromising. The rate of such growth lags and will lag behind the rate of population growth. It is predicted that the world per capita indicator of the availability of arable land by the middle of this century will decrease threefold.

These circumstances are directly related to the attempt to solve the food problem. intensive way, named "green revolution" . This was the name of the breakthrough achieved in the production of food on the planet in the 1960s. The "father" of the "Green Revolution" is considered to be the American scientist-breeder Prof. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1970 Through mechanization, chemicalization, irrigation, increasing the energy efficiency of farms, the use of new higher-yielding and more disease-resistant varieties of agricultural crops, the most productive livestock breeds, it was possible to increase agricultural production from the same and even less areas.

The "Green Revolution" temporarily removed the problem of hunger in the tropical regions of the world. Due to the wide distribution of high-yielding and low-growing varieties of wheat and rice in the tropical regions of Asia and Africa, which suffered the most from food shortages, many developing countries were able to overcome the threat of famine for a while.

At the World Food Conference in Rome in 1974, the decision was made to end hunger within a decade. The main hopes then were placed on the intensification of agriculture through the development of new highly productive varieties of plants and animal breeds, the chemicalization of agriculture, the use of powerful machinery and new technologies. However, it was precisely 10 years after the conference and 14 years after Borlaug received the Nobel Prize, in 1984, that the food crisis escalated sharply, caused primarily by the 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 still persists. There are more undernourished and hungry people on the globe now than ever before, and their number is growing. The famine zone covers a vast territory on both sides of the equator, including Asia, primarily its southeastern part, the Caribbean and South America almost all of sub-Saharan Africa. In the latter region, there are countries (Chad, Somalia, Uganda, Mozambique, etc.) where the proportion of hungry and malnourished people is 30-40% of the population.

Scientists and practitioners, politicians and economists involved in solving the food problem believe that the "green revolution" has bogged down, and they see several reasons for this.

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

New varieties of cereals are very sensitive to fertilizers, in addition, they need more water than the old to realize their potential; they are more susceptible to disease. This means that the farmer must have special knowledge in growing new varieties, as well as funds for the purchase of fertilizers, irrigation equipment, pesticides. When all this was carried out under the guidance of specialists and within the framework of the International Agricultural Program, a positive result was evident. However, in remote areas of 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 that is characteristic of agriculture in economically developed countries.

When evaluating the possibilities of an intensive path of development, one should also keep in mind that the potential for mechanization, irrigation, and chemicalization has now been largely exhausted. For example, there has been a sharp reduction in irrigated areas due to limited water resources.

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

The Green Revolution also had unintended consequences. These are primarily soil salinization caused by poorly designed and maintained irrigation systems, as well as soil and surface water pollution, due in large part to the misuse of fertilizers and crop protection chemicals.

When chemicals are used for their intended purpose, it is generally not possible 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 due, in particular, to the fact that these chemicals are toxic (poisonous), carcinogenic (can cause cancer), mutagenic (can affect heredity), teratogenic (can cause deformities), etc. The consequences of simultaneous exposure of several substances to the environment are still poorly understood.

Some harmful chemical compounds, once in the natural cycle, turn into harmless ones, 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 (human, animal or plant), are almost not removed from it or are removed very slowly. There is an accumulation of these substances, and their concentration becomes dangerous.

New varieties of cereals 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 annually in the world. According to experts who study nitrogen cycles in nature, at least 40% of the 6 billion people currently inhabiting the planet are alive only thanks to the discovery of ammonia synthesis. It would be completely impossible to introduce such an amount of nitrogen into the soil using organic fertilizers.

High doses of mineral fertilizers often worsen 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 soil properties, 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, the accumulation of toxic compounds of aluminum and manganese in them, which reduces fertility and leads to soil degradation.

Fertilizers are washed off the fields when they are not used rationally or, unused by plants, are washed out of the soil by heavy rains and fall into ground water and in surface waters.

Ions of nitrates, phosphates, ammonium present in fertilizers, getting into water bodies with sewage, contribute to their overgrowing with phytoplankton.

For the normal functioning of aquatic ecosystems, they must be oligotrophic, i.e. poor 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 smell and taste, and can release toxic substances. Favorable conditions for the life of anaerobic organisms are formed. During the decomposition of algae, as a result of a number of interrelated fermentation processes in the water, the concentration of free carbon dioxide, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide increases. The phenomenon of water saturation with nutrients, which promotes the increased growth of algae and bacteria that consume decaying algae and absorb oxygen, and leads to the death of higher aquatic biota, is called eutrophication.

Dependence of phytoplankton growth on the content of phosphates 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 hazardous to human health if such water is used as drinking water. Entering the saliva and small intestine with food, nitrates are microbiologically reduced to nitrites, as a result, nitrosillions are formed in the blood, which can oxidize iron Fe (II) in blood hemoglobin to iron Fe (III), which prevents hemoglobin from binding oxygen. As a result, there are symptoms of oxygen deficiency, leading to cyanosis. With the transition of 60–80% of iron (II) hemoglobin to 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. We also note that the water of eutrophic reservoirs is aggressive with respect to concrete, destroys materials used in hydraulic construction, and clogs filters and pipelines of water intakes.

An integral part of the Green Revolution's program to increase crop yields was the widespread use of pesticides.

Pesticides have been used before, they were the so-called. first-generation pesticides are toxic inorganic substances, which included arsenic, cyanide, 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 potato blight in almost all of Europe in the middle of the 19th century, which caused mass starvation. In addition, these pesticides altered the mineral and biotic composition of the soil in such a way that in some places it still remains barren.

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

DDT was found to be extremely toxic to many insect pests, seemingly harmless to humans and other mammals, persistent (hardly broken down and providing long-term protection against pests), and relatively cheap to manufacture. DDT has also proven to be effective in controlling insects that carry the infection. Thanks to the widespread use of DDT, organized by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the death rate from malaria has been significantly reduced, and millions of lives have been saved.

The advantages of DDT seemed so indisputable that in 1948 Muller received the Nobel Prize for his discovery. However, over the next two decades, serious negative consequences of the use of DDT were discovered. Accumulating in trophic chains, chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT and a family of similar pesticides) became dangerous toxicants, reducing resistance to diseases, negatively affecting reproductive abilities and thermoregulation. Numerous deaths of various aquatic biota (river and marine), birds and other animals have been recorded. For example, DDT brought into the ocean by rivers killed predators that fed on the eggs of the “crown of thorns” starfish. As a result, these once rare marine creatures have 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 have a detrimental effect on the health of primarily the rural population, people employed in agricultural work. WHO estimates that they still kill 20,000 people every year and poison millions of people, mostly in developing countries.

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

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

The extermination of lizards by cats led to the reproduction of caterpillars, which began to eat the thatched roofs of the natives. The death of cats, eventually also poisoned by 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 got another, more terrible disease - the plague.

WHO stopped its experiment and brought cats to the island, which restored the ecological balance in its ecosystems. Cat landings to combat rats landed on the small islands of Japan in 1961 and on the islands of 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 investment in agriculture as part of the implementation of the "green revolution", indicate, according to many experts, the need second green revolution . Now the focus is on new biotechnologies, including gene (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 both among producers and consumers of agricultural products.

Proponents of genetic modification of plants argue that selection at the molecular level allows you to create varieties that are resistant to pests, diseases and herbicides, lack or excess of moisture in the soil, heat or cold. It also makes it possible to widely use local plant varieties that are most adapted to certain climatic conditions of the region, which contributes to the conservation of biological diversity as the most important factor in sustainable development. It is argued that new varieties can be given high nutritional characteristics and other properties that are beneficial to health. 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, a threat to man and nature, since the consequences of such modifications are unpredictable. At the large-scale World Manufacturers Forum in Turin (Italy), 5,000 participants from 180 countries came to an unequivocal conclusion: GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are no good, they are harmful to the environment, to human and animal health. In the United States, 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 devoted to the production of environmentally friendly products.

According to A. Baranov, President of the National Association for Genetic Safety, the rejection of transgenic products, which is happening 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. But nevertheless, for 10 years now, in all boiled sausages that we buy and eat in Russia, the filler that determines both color and taste has been GM corn and GM soybeans.

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 agricultural pests and weeds. They are divided into groups depending on the organisms for which they are intended. For example, herbicides kill plants, insecticides kill insects.