Abstract
This paper reconsiders two widely held hypotheses about the effects of the green revolution, that it led to biological simplification and instability. The hypothesis of biological simplification (genetic erosion) is tested with evidence from Andean agriculture, where farmers maintain a significant degree of crop diversity even as they adopt modern crop varieties. The hypothesis of increased instability is tested with evidence from Asia where wheat and rice yields show no general pattern of increased instability. Neither of these hypotheses is confirmed. The conventional wisdom about the green revolution should be reconsidered with emphasis on resilience and variation in modernizing farming systems.
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Brush, S.B. Reconsidering the green revolution: Diversity and stability in cradle areas of crop domestication. Hum Ecol 20, 145–167 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00889077
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00889077