Thesis Statement - Norman Borlaug's work within the Green Revolution increased food production which saved many

lives, despite his critics saying it is bad due to the impacts to the environment.

Many articles state that Norman Borlaug is responsible for saving hundreds of millions of lives. His work in the Green Revolution was responsible for creating new processes which helped to increase the food supply in many of the developing countries. His advances in plant breeding increased food production in Latin America and Asia. This increase in the food supply was used to feed many starving people in these countries and avert mass famine. According to The New York Times, Dr. Borlaug is responsible for creating the "semidwarf" plant which produces more food than the original crop when feed with chemical fertilizers. This "helped to avert mass famines that were widely predicted in the 1960s". He is also responsible for the production of wheat varieties that were insensitive to the length of the day and that could grow in different locations. When this was applied in Mexico, food production was increased by six times. The wheat seeds from Mexico were shipped to India and Pakistan where the population was growing faster than the farm output. This process allowed the Mexico and India to become self sufficient in production of cereal grains. However, critics state that the processes encouraged overreliance on chemicals. The Australia & New Zealand Blog state Borlaug "helped provided bread for a hungry world." The article states that he produced semidwarf disease-resistant wheat varieties over 16 years. In the article, Borlaug states we can feed the world adequately if we follow methods he recommended. However, according to this article many critics state that his impacts were detrimental to the environment. Borlaug's processes made farmers more dependent on industrial products such as fertilizer and pesticides. Large scale monoculture crops that were prone to pests and diseases required pesticides. Increased use of fertilizer has led to increased cancer rates as well as other health problems in rural areas. It has also caused soil and aquifer depletion. Risks are also associated with Genetically Modified crops as they can cause food safety issues, ecological concerns, and economic concerns. In The Wall Street Journal article Norman Borlaug is stated as "the greatest American of the 20th century." He help end the India-Pakistan food shortage in the 1960's. When Borlaug first went over to India and Pakistan it was thought as impossible that they would be able to support themselves with food. However, after 3 years of his arrival, Pakistan was self-sufficient in wheat production and after 6 years, India was self-sufficient in production of all cereals. After his success in India and Pakistan he moved on to other poor nations such as Africa to help with food production. He founded crop-research facilities in poor nations that helped save a billion

people. Dr. Borlaug developed hybrid crops that were selectively bred for vigor and also used a technique known as "shuttle breeding" which accelerated disease immunities between strains of crops. Also crops were developed that were insensitive to the time of day, so they could be grown in many climates. These techniques led to increased food production as well as reliable harvests. Borlaug taught poor farmers in less developed countries about Green Revolution agriculture which helped prevent future famines. Due to Borlaug's work, world hunger declined from 1965 to 2005 and global food per capita consumption rose. In 2006 the malnutrition was at the lowest in human history. However, with all these benefits, Borlaug still became the target of many critics because of the requirements of pesticides and fertilizers. According to The Guardian, Norman Borlaug's high-yield crops helped protect rainforests because it allowed farmers to produce more food on their existing farmland. However, Dr. Borlaug had many critics. They say he helped nurture the era of monocrops and use of petro-chemical pesticides and fertilizers as well as "plant the seed for environmental woes."