Their Story Their Voice
Their Story Their Voice
Norman Borlaug: The seeds of change - Act of Kindness or Controversy?
In this intriguing episode I delved into the life and legacy of Norman Borlaug, the man often credited with saving over a billion lives through his groundbreaking work in agriculture. From his early days on a farm in Iowa to his controversial role in the Green Revolution, we explore the profound impact and contentious criticisms of his efforts to combat world hunger. Was Borlaug's work a monumental act of kindness, or did it lead to unforeseen consequences that still affect us today?
Please note transcription accuracy may vary.
Sources:
https://wheatworld.org/podcast/july-august-podcast-2/
https://www.britannica.com/plant/wheat
https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/dr_norman_e_borlaug/about_norman_borlaug/
https://www.who.int/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Hope-Healing-Words-Light/dp/1785305166/ref=asc_df_1785305166/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7891748936176287123&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007003&hvtargid=pla-2281435178138&psc=1&mcid=697d4537c3a63d46ba89079b6594894c&th=1&psc=1&hvocijid=7891748936176287123-1785305166-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1
Music by:
(Neffex - A year ago)
(Neffex - dont want to let myself go)
The Forgotten World is made up primarily of the Developing Nations, where most of the people comprising more than 50 percent of the total world population live in poverty, with hunger as a constant companion, and fear of famine a continual menace This is a quote by Norman Borlaug Hi hi hi Good news, mainly for me. We're moving on from Evangelical Christians and slave and land owners. So I'm just going to start. In 2024, the global economic crisis is affecting nearly everyone. It's not a crisis that's limited to where I live or where you live. The person chosen for this mini episode is Norman Borlaug norman was born on the 25th of March 1914 in Iowa, America. His early life was working on the small farm where he lived with his family He was interested in agriculture and didn't see the work that he had to do on the farm as a chore. Later on, he would then go on to be heavily involved in sports at school, especially wrestling. That was a big interest for him. But more importantly, he would later go on to study plant pathology and earn a PhD in 1942. During World War II, he worked on developing fungicides for plant diseases, but his career took a turn when he joined the corporate wheat research and production program in Mexico as a research scientist. Where he would work from 1944 to 1960. This was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Side note, the Rockefeller Foundation were also involved in eugenics, but we've moved past that. During this time Mexico was facing food shortages and low agriculture productivity. Norman would set out to tackle this issue by improving wheat yields. He spent years experimenting with different wheat varieties and crossbreeding them to develop a disease resilient high yield strain of wheat. This would later be known as the Green Revolution. I need to add, because in case anyone's like falling asleep, stay with me, Wheat is one of the most important plants, and according to the National Association of Wheat Growers, it originated in Iraq. anyone there National Association of Wheat Growers? I didn't, until now. They even have a podcast, and also, can I just say, so much for listening. about their podcast. It's not just about wheat. It branches out to what farmers nowadays go through in different struggles. They even had an episode last month to draw attention to suicide prevention amongst farmers. I will add it to the show notes. So if you're interested, take a listen. Also, before everyone's falling asleep, 20 percent of our calories are from our intake of wheat. This is according to the World Health Organization. I'm going to bring it back to Norman. He would go on to improve four strains of wheat, including wheat that could be grown anywhere in the world as it did not require daylight to thrive, this took trial and error, experimenting with different varieties as the wheat did not just need to be healthy, it also needed to be fertile. Going to fast forward to 1954 Norman and his team have created what was known as the Miracle Wheat. I could go on to explain what made this a Miracle Wheat, but I'm not going to. I feel like you actually might be happy to hear that I'm not going to delve into everything about the wheat because I personally found it a little bit boring, so I'm not going to bore you with it. But of course, there were issues with this Miracle Wheat because, Of Nothing is easy or simple when you're trying to solve hunger as your life purpose. The wheat required excessive amounts of fertilizer and water. His idea was to use organic fertilizer which he was a strong advocate for, however it wasn't possible. He had to use non organic fertilizer, which we'll later get some criticism, He would go on to make such difference in Mexico that they no longer relied on importing wheat in because they were producing so much now, but actually They were quite self sufficient Because enough of it was grown on their land Thanks to him. In the 1960s, his wheat varieties were introduced to India and Pakistan. Both of those countries were on the brink of famine due to food shortages, And within a few years, wheat production in both countries surged, averting widespread famine. Fast forward to 1980s where the world has changed. and we've changed and we're starting to demand, more from what we were consuming. This leads us to where he then started getting some of the criticisms because, you know, it wasn't enough that he tried to stop famine in Mexico and in India and in Pakistan. Of course, as we evolved and time changed, we had criticisms. What were our criticisms? We weren't happy about the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. Bulang's high yield crop variety required a significant use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. to thrive. The increased need for water and the impact of chemicals on the soil's health created long term sustainability issues in some regions. Did we have any other issues? The green revolution promoted large scale monocultural farming where only one crop was grown over vast areas. This practice made crops more vulnerable to disease and pests and decreased biodiversity, which some environmentalists see as a negative consequence. While Borlaungs. Agricultural innovation helped increase food production. Brulon's critics would point out that the benefits weren't often evenly distributed. Wealthier large scale farmers were better positioned to afford the fertilizers. The aggregation systems and the equipment needed to make the most of the high yield seeds. In contrast, poorer Farmers who couldn't afford these inputs were left behind exacerbating the inequality in rural areas because you know, that's kind of if you can afford if you can afford to have the tools then You're winning if you can't afford those then you're not winning. So I do understand that so now we're moving on to income inequality in the rural areas the shift towards industrial scale agriculture displaced many small farmers. This transition was seen as a loss of traditional farming practices and rural livelihoods. He was widely criticized for making the developing nations More reliant on Western agricultural technologies and companies. Seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides often had to be purchased from multinational corporations. leading to the concern about corporate control over the food supply and the erosion of local farming knowledge and practices. The Green Revolution that was developed by Borlaung and his team focused too much on increasing food production and not addressing the systematic issue that was causing hunger, such as poverty. Unequal land distribution and lack of infrastructure. While food production increased, the critics would go on to argue that they didn't always translate into reduced hunger or improved livelihoods for the poorest populations. Many saw it as short term gains for long term costs and they weren't really interested in that. And obviously the environmentalists were looking at the environmental damage, loss of biodiversity, and reliance on chemical inputs, and they didn't feel he had considered all of those. And he would argue that. Organic methods alone couldn't feed the world's growing population and that modern agriculture, with its technological advances, was essential for preventing famine. This put him at odds with the environmentalists and those who were in favour of sustainable agriculture. He would go on to argue, To the critics that but it's worth bearing in mind that he initially was in favor of organic farming. It was just that we at that time weren't there yet. So he would go on to say that without the Green Revolution, millions more people would have starved. Regarding environmental issues, he often pointed out that environmental sustainability is a luxury that hungry people cannot afford. He believed that feeding the world's population was the first priority and that technological solutions would continue to improve over time. Whilst his Green Revolution saved countless lives, a billion lives. That's a billion people from starving. His agricultural achievements not only increase food security, but also help stabilize nations that were facing political unrest due to hunger The debate around his work highlights the complex relationship between technological advances, environmental sustainability, and social justice. His legacy is one of both enormous achievement and ongoing controversy, particularly as the world faces the challenges of sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change, because we do also need to remember that during the time when he began his work with one purpose, which was to help with world hunger, we knew about climate change because we've always known about climate change. But we mainly avoided it and we didn't really pay any attention to what was being told America. I'm pretty sure you had an entire president who called climate change fake news. I will not say anything else. His legacy is one of both enormous achievement and ongoing controversy, so I will leave this up to you to decide whether Norman's work was a great act of kindness, his work which is credited for saving over a billion lives as his innovation spread across Asia, Latin America and Africa, throughout his life, he was motivated by a simple but profound belief that hunger and poverty were at the root of many of the world's problems. He saw science as a tool for addressing these issues and alleviating human suffering. His story is one of using innovation and kindness to make a tangible difference in the world. His legacy as the father of the green revolution continues to influence global agriculture. And food security efforts today. Norman Borlaung would go on to die On September the 12th, 2009, in hindsight, looking at where we are today, maybe it wasn't an act of kindness. I think it depends on who you ask. I think maybe for those people in Mexico and India and Pakistan, I think they would actually say that it was an act of kindness what he did because he saved them from starving. Thank you for listening to another episode be kind to each other, but most importantly, be kind to yourself. I'm just going to end the episode with a poem by this author that I've mentioned before in another episode called Donna Ashworth. The poem's called Just Visiting, and it's by Donna Ashworth, from a book called Wild Hope. You were not born to a land, you were born on it. You were gifted access to that soil, but you can not own a patch of earth. Not really. You are a visitor, my friend, we're all visitors. Our mother nature will often remind us of this truth. She will rage with her winds, rain with her storm, and swell her mighty oceans to rise, washing away the spoils of human victory. folly and claim. No, she will say, you do not own this, you were just visiting. Be a good guest, take care of the land you were born on, welcome others to that land when their ground shakes. You were not born to a land. You were gifted access. Be good with the gift. Do good with the gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
