green revolution

Prior to the 1940’s, man worked more or less in harmony with Nature to grow enough food to meet his nutritional requirements. But after WWII, industry had so much extra petroleum-making capacity, unused chemical weapons, and technology momentum from the war effort that they decided to find new uses for chemicals, instead of going back to the way things were. Chemical companies shifted their efforts away from feeding the war machine, toward the development of nitrogen-based fertilizers derived from crude oil. In tandem with fertilizers, they turned the poisons in chemical weapon into herbicides and pesticides. And more efficient machinery made it possible for farms to increase in size. Together, they called these agricultural “advancements” the “Green Revolution” because of their ability to supersede Nature’s limitations and industrialize the growing process. On the surface, the new technologies and techniques seemed to be a smashing success. Efficiencies and yield multiplied. Economies of scale were enjoyed by all. America became the breadbasket for the world.