Norman Borlaug, 1914-2009

[Occhidiangela]

Hi,

Norman Borlaug, father of the green revolution, the man whose work has almost certainly saved millions upon millions of lives from a starving death, has died at the age of 95.

-Jester

He made possible a revival of Malthusian archetypes. He made possible the salting and desertification of arable farmland the world over.

Not on purpose. of course, but the old law of unintended outcomes, as cash crops took advantage of Green Rev methods and in some cases the long term influence of adding nitrates and fertilizers became a hazard to viable acreage. SciAm had an in depth article on this problem some years ago, the salting of good soil by over treatment as yields per acre ceilings were pushed at year after year.

So, he halped take the edge off famine, but famine is still with us. He made a cheap food policy possible in my country, at a macro scale, and ironically he enabled the seeds of obesity.

Silver cloud, sure, with a nice gray lining.

But all in all, he done good. We are better off for his efforts.