Editing Green Revolution (section)

== Agricultural production and food security ==

According to a 2012 review in ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' of the existing academic literature, the Green Revolution "contributed to widespread poverty reduction, averted hunger for millions of people, and avoided the conversion of thousands of hectares of land into agricultural cultivation."<ref name=":2" />

===Technological Developments===

The Green Revolution spread technologies that already existed but had not been widely implemented outside industrialized nations. Two kinds of technologies were used in the Green Revolution, on the issues of cultivation and breeding. The technologies in cultivation are targeted at providing excellent growing conditions, which include modern [[irrigation]] projects, [[pesticide]]s, and [[synthetic nitrogen fertilizer]]. The breeding technologies aimed at improving crop varieties developed through science-based methods including [[hybrid (biology)|hybrids]], combining modern genetics with plant-breeding trait selections.<ref name=":0" />

==== High-yielding varieties ====

The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of novel wheat [[cultivars]]. [[Agronomist]]s bred [[high-yielding varieties]] of corn, wheat, and rice. HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties. Since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing [[gene]]s were bred into their [[genome]]s. A Japanese dwarf wheat cultivar [[Norin 10 wheat|Norin 10]] developed by Japanese agronomist [[Gonjiro Inazuka]], which was sent to [[Orville Vogel]] at [[Washington State University]] by [[Cecil Salmon]], was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars. In the 1960s, with a food crisis in Asia, the spread of high-yielding variety rice greatly increased.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dana G. |first=Dalrymple |title=Development and spread of high-yielding rice varieties in developing countries |publisher=International Rice Research Institute |year=1986 |isbn=978-9-7110-4159-5 |page=1}}</ref>

Dr. [[Norman Borlaug]], the "Father of the Green Revolution", bred rust-resistant cultivars which have strong and firm stems, preventing them from falling over under extreme weather at high levels of fertilization. [[International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center|CIMMYT]] (Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo{{snd}}International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvements) conducted these breeding programs and helped spread high-yielding varieties in Mexico and countries in Asia like India and [[Agriculture in Pakistan|Pakistan]]. These programs led to the doubling of harvests in these countries.<ref name=":0"/>

Plant scientists figured out several parameters related to the high yield and identified the related genes which control the plant height and tiller number.<ref name="Sakamoto Matsuoka 2004">{{cite journal | last1=Sakamoto | first1=Tomoaki | last2=Matsuoka | first2=Makoto | title=Generating high-yielding varieties by genetic manipulation of plant architecture | journal=Current Opinion in Biotechnology | publisher=Elsevier | volume=15 | issue=2 | year=2004 | doi=10.1016/j.copbio.2004.02.003 | pages=144–147| pmid=15081053 }}</ref> With advances in [[molecular genetics]], the [[mutant]] [[genes]] responsible for ''[[Arabidopsis thaliana]]'' genes (GA 20-oxidase,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Xu, Y.L. |author2=Li, L. |author3=Wu, K. |author4=Peeters, A.J. |author5=Gage, D.A. |author6=Zeevaart, J.A. |title=The GA5 locus of ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' encodes a multifunctional gibberellin 20-oxidase: molecular cloning and functional expression |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=92 |issue=14 |pages=6640–6644 |date=July 1995 |pmid=7604047 |pmc=41574 |doi=10.1073/pnas.92.14.6640 |bibcode=1995PNAS...92.6640X |doi-access=free}}</ref> ''ga1'',<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Silverstone, A.L. |author2=Chang, C. |author3=Krol, E. |author4=Sun, T.P. |title=Developmental regulation of the gibberellin biosynthetic gene GA1 in Arabidopsis thaliana |journal=Plant J. |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=9–19 |date=July 1997 |pmid=9263448 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-313X.1997.12010009.x|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''ga1-3''<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Silverstone, A.L. |author2=Ciampaglio |author3=C.N. |author4=Sun, T. |title=The Arabidopsis RGA gene encodes a transcriptional regulator repressing the gibberellin signal transduction pathway |journal=Plant Cell |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=155–69 |date=February 1998 |pmid=9490740 |pmc=143987 |doi=10.1105/tpc.10.2.155}}</ref>), wheat reduced-height genes (''Rht'')<ref>{{cite journal |author=Appleford NE |title=Decreased shoot stature and grain alpha-amylase activity following ectopic expression of a gibberellin 2-oxidase gene in transgenic wheat |journal=J. Exp. Bot. |volume=58 |issue=12 |pages=3213–26 |year=2007 |pmid=17916639 |doi=10.1093/jxb/erm166 |author2=Wilkinson, M.D. |author3=Ma, Q. |display-authors=3 |last4=Evans |first4=D. J. |last5=Stone |first5=M.C. |last6=Pearce |first6=S. P. |last7=Powers |first7=S. J. |last8=Thomas |first8=S. G. |last9=Jones |first9=H. D. |df=dmy-all |doi-access=free}}</ref>  and <!--''slender rice (slr1)'' This gene makes rice's height taller. --> a rice semidwarf gene (''sd1'')<ref>{{cite journal |author=Monna, L. |title=Positional cloning of rice semidwarfing gene, sd-1: rice "green revolution gene" encodes a mutant enzyme involved in gibberellin synthesis |journal=DNA Res. |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=11–17 |date=February 2002 |pmid=11939564 |doi=10.1093/dnares/9.1.11 |last2=Kitazawa |first2=N. |author3=Yoshino, R. |display-authors=3 |last4=Suzuki |first4=J. |last5=Masuda |first5=H. |last6=Maehara |first6=Y. |last7=Tanji |first7=M. |last8=Sato |first8=M |last9=Nasu |first9=S. |doi-access=free}}</ref> were [[cloned]]. These were identified as [[gibberellin]] [[biosynthesis]] genes or [[Cell signaling|cellular signaling]] component genes. [[Plant stem|Stem]] growth in the mutant background is significantly reduced leading to the [[Dwarf plant|dwarf]] [[phenotype]]. [[Photosynthetic]] investment in the stem is reduced dramatically as the shorter plants are inherently more stable mechanically. Assimilates become redirected to grain production, amplifying in particular the effect of chemical fertilizers on commercial yield.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

High-yielding varieties significantly outperform traditional varieties in the presence of adequate irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers. In the absence of these inputs, traditional varieties may outperform high-yielding varieties. Therefore, several authors have challenged the apparent superiority of high-yielding varieties not only compared to the traditional varieties alone, but by contrasting the monocultural system associated with high-yielding varieties with the polycultural system associated with traditional ones.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Igbozurike |first=U.M. |title=Polyculture and Monoculture: Contrast and Analysis |journal=GeoJournal |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=443–49 |year=1978 |doi=10.1007/BF00156222 |bibcode=1978GeoJo...2..443I }}</ref>

===Production increases===

[[File:Wheat yields in Least Developed Countries.svg|thumb|Wheat yields in [[least developed countries]] since 1961, in kilograms per hectare.]]

By one 2021 estimate, the Green Revolution increased yields by 44% between 1965 and 2010.<ref name=":1" /> Cereal production more than doubled in developing nations between the years 1961–1985.<ref name=conway1>{{harvnb|Conway|1998|loc=Ch. 4}}</ref> Yields of rice, corn, and wheat increased steadily during that period.<ref name=conway1/> The production increases can be attributed equal to irrigation, fertilizer, and seed development, at least in the case of Asian rice.<ref name=conway1/>

While agricultural output increased as a result of the Green Revolution, the energy input to produce a crop has increased faster,<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060115133725/http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=563 |archive-date=15 January 2006 |url=http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=563 |title=Why Our Food is So Dependent on Oil |last1=Church |first1=Norman |date=1 April 2005 |publisher=PowerSwitch |access-date=8 August 2011 }} [http://www.energybulletin.net/node/5045 Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927065746/http://www.energybulletin.net/node/5045 |date=27 September 2008 }}</ref>  so that the ratio of crops produced to energy input has decreased over time. Green Revolution techniques also heavily rely on [[agricultural machinery]] and chemical [[fertilizer]]s, [[pesticide]]s, [[herbicide]]s, and [[defoliant]]s; which, as of 2014, are derived from [[crude oil]], making agriculture increasingly reliant on crude oil extraction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20070914/NEWS/709140329/1011/RSS&source=RSS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016154827/http://timesdaily.com/article/20070914/NEWS/709140329/1011/RSS%26source%3DRSS |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 October 2007 |title=Fuel costs, drought influence price increase |publisher=Timesdaily.com |access-date=20 March 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>  
[[File:World population history.svg|thumb|World population 1950–2010]]

===Effects on food security===
{{Main|Food security}}
The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by [[fossil fuels]] in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and [[hydrocarbon]] fueled [[irrigation]].<ref>[http://www.energybulletin.net/281.html Eating Fossil Fuels]. [[EnergyBulletin]].  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611071544/http://www.energybulletin.net/281.html |date=June 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Soaring fertilizer prices put global food security at risk |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/05/06/fertilizer-prices-food-securtiy |work=Axios |date=6 May 2022}}</ref> The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global [[population growth]]&nbsp;— it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Erisman |first1=Jan Willem |last2=Sutton |first2=Mark A. |last3=Galloway |first3=James |last4=Klimont |first4=Zbigniew |last5=Winiwarter |first5=Wilfried |title=How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world |journal=Nature Geoscience |date=October 2008 |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=636–639 |doi=10.1038/ngeo325 |bibcode=2008NatGe...1..636E }}</ref> According to ICIS Fertilizers managing editor Julia Meehan, "People don't realise that 50% of the world's food relies on fertilisers."<ref>{{cite news |title=Fears global energy crisis could lead to famine in vulnerable countries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/20/global-energy-crisis-famine-production |work=The Guardian |date=20 October 2021}}</ref>

The [[world population]] has grown by about five billion<ref>url=http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/</ref> since the beginning of the Green Revolution. India saw annual wheat production rise from 10 million tons in the 1960s to 73&nbsp;million in 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4994590.stm |title=The end of India's green revolution? |work=BBC News  |date=29 May 2006 |access-date=20 March 2011}}</ref> The average person in the developing world consumes roughly 25% more <!-- calorie source? from sugar, or rice, or ? -->calories per day now than before the Green Revolution.<ref name=conway1/>  Between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the globe, world grain production increased by 160%.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Kindall, Henery W |author2=Pimentel, David |title=Constraints on the Expansion of the Global Food Supply |journal=Ambio |volume=23 |issue=3 |date=May 1994 |url=http://dieoff.org/page36.htm |access-date=10 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011060735/http://dieoff.org/page36.htm |archive-date=11 October 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The production increases fostered by the Green Revolution are often credited with having helped to avoid widespread [[famine]], and for feeding billions of people.<ref>"[http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/80096/icode/ Save and Grow farming model launched by FAO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903205125/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/80096/icode/ |date=3 September 2016 }}". [[Food and Agriculture Organization]].</ref>

===Food security===
[[File:World population supported by synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, OWID.svg|thumb|[[World population]] supported with and without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.<ref>{{cite web |title=World population with and without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-population-with-and-without-fertilizer |website=Our World in Data |access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref>]]

====Malthusian criticism====
Some criticisms generally involve some variation of the [[Malthusianism|Malthusian]] principle of population. Such concerns often revolve around the idea that the Green Revolution is unsustainable,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dieoff.com/page55.htm |title=Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy |publisher=Dieoff.com |access-date=20 March 2011}}</ref> and argue that humanity is now in a state of [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]] or [[overshoot (population)|overshoot]] with regards to the sustainable [[Carrying capacity#Humans|carrying capacity]] and [[ecological footprint|ecological demands]] on the Earth. A 2021 study found, contrary to the expectations of the Malthusian hypothesis, that the Green Revolution led to reduced population growth, rather than an increase in population growth.<ref name=":1" />

Although many people die each year as a direct or indirect result of hunger and poor nutrition, Malthus's more extreme predictions have failed to materialize. In 1798 Thomas Malthus made his prediction of impending famine.<ref name="Green Revolutionary">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19871/ |title=Green Revolutionary |magazine=Technology Review |access-date=20 March 2011}}</ref>  The world's population had doubled by 1923 and doubled again by 1973 without fulfilling Malthus's prediction. Malthusian [[Paul R. Ehrlich]], in his 1968 book ''[[The Population Bomb]]'', said that "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980" and "Hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs."<ref name="Green Revolutionary"/>  Ehrlich's warnings failed to materialize when India became self-sustaining in cereal production in 1974 (six years later) as a result of the introduction of [[Norman Borlaug]]'s dwarf wheat varieties.<ref name="Green Revolutionary"/>

However, Borlaug was well aware of the implications of population growth. In his Nobel lecture he repeatedly presented improvements in food production within a sober understanding of the context of population. "The green revolution has won a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation; it has given man a breathing space. If fully implemented, the revolution can provide sufficient food for sustenance during the next three decades. But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only. Most people still fail to comprehend the magnitude and menace of the "Population Monster"...Since man is potentially a rational being, however, I am confident that within the next two decades he will recognize the self-destructive course he steers along the road of irresponsible population growth..."

[[File:Hubbert peak oil plot.svg|thumb|[[M. King Hubbert]]'s prediction of world petroleum production rates (1968 peak of USA, 2005 World conventional oil peak, 2018 all liquides including corn to oil peak). Modern agriculture is largely reliant on petroleum energy.<ref>"[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-oil-supplies-are-set-to-run-out-faster-than-expected-warn-scientists-6262621.html World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists]". ''The Independent''. June 14, 2007.</ref>]]

====Famine====
To some modern Western sociologists and writers, increasing food production is not synonymous with increasing [[food security]], and is only part of a larger equation. For example, Harvard professor [[Amartya Sen]] wrote that large [[List of famines|historic famines]] were not caused by decreases in food supply, but by socioeconomic dynamics and a failure of public action.<ref name=sen>Drezé and Sen 1991</ref> Economist [[Peter Bowbrick]] disputes Sen's theory, arguing that Sen relies on inconsistent arguments and contradicts available information, including sources that Sen himself cited.<ref name="Bowbrick1986" /> Bowbrick further argues that Sen's views coincide with that of the [[Bengal]] government at the time of the [[Bengal famine of 1943]], and the policies Sen advocates failed to relieve the famine.<ref name="Bowbrick1986" />

====Quality of diet====

Some have challenged the value of the increased food production of Green Revolution agriculture. These monoculture crops are often used for export, feed for animals, or conversion into biofuel. According to [[Emile Frison]] of [[Bioversity International]], the Green Revolution has also led to a change in dietary habits, as fewer people are affected by hunger and die from starvation, but many are affected by [[malnutrition]] such as [[iron deficiency|iron]] or [[vitamin A deficiency|vitamin-A deficiencies]].<ref name="inwent.org" /> Frison further asserts that almost 60% of yearly deaths of children under age five in developing countries are related to malnutrition.<ref name="inwent.org" />

The strategies developed by the Green Revolution focused on fending off starvation and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but did not give sufficient relevance to nutritional quality.<ref name=SandsMorris2009>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sands DC, Morris CE, Dratz EA, Pilgeram A| title=Elevating optimal human nutrition to a central goal of plant breeding and production of plant-based foods. |journal=Plant Sci |year=2009 |volume=177 |issue=5 |pages=377–89 |pmid=20467463 |doi=10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.07.011 |pmc=2866137 | bibcode=2009PlnSc.177..377S |type=Review}}</ref> High yield cereal crops have low [[Protein quality|quality proteins]], with [[essential amino acid]] deficiencies, are high in [[carbohydrate]]s, and lack balanced [[essential fatty acid]]s, [[vitamin]]s, [[mineral]]s and other quality factors.<ref name=SandsMorris2009 />

High-yield rice, introduced since 1964 to poverty-ridden Asian countries, such as the [[Agriculture in the Philippines|Philippines]], was found to have inferior flavor and be more [[Glutinous rice|glutinous]] and less savory than their native varieties, causing its price to be lower than the average market value.<ref>{{cite book |author=Chapman, Graham P. |chapter=The Green Revolution |title=The Companion to Development Studies |publisher=Arnold |location=London |year=2002 |pages=155–159}}</ref>

In the Philippines the heavy use of pesticides in rice production, in the early part of the Green Revolution, poisoned and killed off fish and weedy green vegetables that traditionally coexisted in [[Paddy field|rice paddies]]. These were nutritious food sources for many poor Filipino farmers prior to the introduction of pesticides, further impacting the diets of locals.<ref name="rice-robbery">{{cite book |author=Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas |url=http://www.collectivetech.org/apc/sites/default/files/IRRI_Resource%20Kit_Final_SIBAT_0.pdf#page=21 |title=The Great Rice Robbery: A Handbook on the Impact of IRRI in Asia |publisher=[[Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-983-9381-35-1 |editor=Victoria M. Lopez |location=Penang, Malaysia |access-date=8 August 2011 |display-editors=etal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725184419/http://www.collectivetech.org/apc/sites/default/files/IRRI_Resource%20Kit_Final_SIBAT_0.pdf#page=21 |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Socioeconomic impacts===

According to a 2021 study, the Green Revolution substantially increased income.<ref name=":1" /> A delay in the Green Revolution by ten years would have cost 17% of GDP per capita, whereas if the Green Revolution had never happened, it could have reduced GDP per capita in the developing world by half.<ref name=":1" />

===Environmental impact===
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Irrigation1.jpg|thumb|Increased use of irrigation played a major role in the green revolution.]]

====Biodiversity====
There are varying opinions about the effect of the Green Revolution on wild biodiversity. One hypothesis speculates that by increasing production per unit of land area, agriculture will not need to expand into new, uncultivated areas to feed a growing human population.<ref name=Davies2003>{{cite journal| last=Davies| first=Paul| title=An Historical Perspective from the Green Revolution to the Gene Revolution| journal=Nutrition Reviews| volume=61| issue=6| pages=S124–34|date=June 2003| doi=10.1301/nr.2003.jun.S124-S134| pmid=12908744| doi-access=free}}</ref> However, [[land degradation]] and [[Plant nutrients in soil|soil nutrients]] depletion have forced farmers to clear  forested areas in order to maintain production.<ref name="Shiva1991">{{cite journal| last=Shiva| first=Vandana| title=The Green Revolution in the Punjab| journal=The Ecologist| volume=21| issue=2| pages=57–60|date=March–April 1991}}</ref> A counter-hypothesis speculates that biodiversity was sacrificed because traditional systems of agriculture that were displaced sometimes incorporated practices to preserve wild biodiversity, and because the Green Revolution expanded agricultural development into new areas where it was once unprofitable or too [[arid]]. For example, the development of wheat varieties tolerant to acid soil conditions with high aluminium content permitted the introduction of agriculture in the [[Cerrado]] [[tropical savanna climate|semi-humid]] [[tropical savanna]].<ref name="Davies2003"/> 

The world community has clearly acknowledged the negative aspects of [[agricultural expansion]] as the 1992 [[Earth Summit|Rio Treaty]], signed by 189 nations, has generated numerous national [[Biodiversity action plan|Biodiversity Action Plans]] which assign significant [[biodiversity loss]] to agriculture's expansion into new domains.

The Green Revolution has been criticized for an agricultural model which relied on a few staple and market profitable crops, and pursuing a model which limited the biodiversity of Mexico. One of the critics against these techniques  and the Green Revolution as a whole was [[Carl O. Sauer]], a geography professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. According to Sauer these techniques of plant breeding would result in negative effects on the country's resources, and the culture:

<blockquote>
A good aggressive bunch of American agronomists and plant breeders could ruin the native resources for good and all by pushing their American commercial stocks... And Mexican agriculture cannot be pointed toward standardization on a few commercial types without upsetting native economy and culture hopelessly... Unless the Americans understand that, they'd better keep out of this country entirely. That must be approached from an appreciation of native economies as being basically sound.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jennings |first=Bruce H. |title=Foundations of international agricultural research: Science and politics in Mexican Agriculture |publisher=Westview Press |year=1988 |location=Boulder |page=51}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==== Greenhouse gas emissions ====
Studies indicate that the Green Revolution has substantially increased emissions of the greenhouse gas {{CO2}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Xinrui |last2=Zhang |first2=Xiaodong |last3=Huang |first3=Yufei |last4=Chen |first4=Kaijie |last5=Wang |first5=Linfei |last6=Ma |first6=Jianmin |last7=Huang |first7=Tao |last8=Zhao |first8=Yuan |last9=Gao |first9=Hong |last10=Tao |first10=Shu |last11=Liu |first11=Junfeng |last12=Jian |first12=Xiaohu |last13=Luo |first13=Jinmu |title=The Direct Radiative Forcing Impact of Agriculture-Emitted Black Carbon Associated With India's Green Revolution |journal=Earth's Future |date=June 2021 |volume=9 |issue=6 |doi=10.1029/2021EF001975 |bibcode=2021EaFut...901975L |doi-access=free }}</ref> High yield agriculture has dramatic effects on the amount of carbon cycling in the atmosphere. The way in which farms are grown, in tandem with the seasonal [[Carbon cycle|carbon cycling]] of various crops, could alter the impact carbon in the atmosphere has on global warming. Wheat, rice, and soybean crops account for a significant amount of the increase in carbon in the atmosphere over the last 50 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.climatecentral.org/news/green-revolution-brings-greater-co2-swings-18354|title='Green Revolution' Brings Greater {{CO2}} Swings|website=www.climatecentral.org|access-date=2016-10-10}}</ref> 

Poorly regulated applications of nitrogen fertilizer that exceed the amount used by plants, such as broadcast applications of [[urea]], result in emissions of [[nitrous oxide]], a potent greenhouse gas, and in water pollution.<ref name="WP122221">{{cite news |author1=Joshua Partlow |author2=Chris Mooney |title=Mexico's wheat fields help feed the world. They're also releasing a dangerous greenhouse gas. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/mexico-fertilizer-nitrous-oxide-emissions/ |access-date=December 24, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 22, 2021}}</ref> As the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, [[Michael Fakhri]] summarized in 2022, "food systems emit approximately one third of the world’s greenhouse gases and contribute to the alarming decline in the number of animal and plant species. Intensive industrial agriculture and export-oriented food policies have driven much of this damage. Ever since governments started adopting the Green Revolution in the 1950s, the world's food systems have been increasingly designed along industrial models, the idea being that, if people are able to purchase industrial inputs, then they can produce a large amount of food. Productivity was not measured in terms of human and environmental health, but exclusively in terms of commodity output and economic growth. This same system disrupted carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles because it requires farmers to depend on fossil fuel- based machines and chemical inputs, displacing long-standing regenerative and integrated farming practices."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fakhri |first=Michael |date=May 20, 2022 |title=Public statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Mr. Michael Fakhri}}</ref> The IPCC's synthesis of recent findings states similarly "intensive agriculture during the second half of the 20th century led to [[soil degradation]] and loss of natural resources and contributed to [[climate change]]."<ref name=":5" /> They further specify, "while the Green Revolution technologies substantially increased the yield of few crops and allowed countries to reduce hunger, they also resulted in inappropriate and excessive use of agrochemicals, inefficient water use, loss of beneficial biodiversity, water and soil pollution and significantly reduced crop and varietal diversity."

==== Land use ====
A 2021 study found that the Green Revolution led to a reduction in land used for agriculture.<ref name=":1" />

===Health impact===
Studies have found that the Green Revolution substantially reduced [[infant mortality]] in the developing world. A 2020 study of 37 developing countries found that the diffusion of modern crop varieties "reduced infant mortality by 2.4–5.3 percentage points (from a baseline of 18%), with stronger effects for male infants and among poor households."<ref name=":3" /> Another 2020 study found that high yield crop varieties reduced infant mortality in India, with particularly large effects for rural children, boys and [[Caste system in India|low-caste]] children.<ref name=":4" />

Consumption of [[Health effects of pesticides|pesticides]] and [[Fertilizer|fertilizer agrochemicals]] associated with the Green Revolution may have adverse health impacts. For example, pesticides may increase the likelihood of cancer.<ref name="Loyn" /> Poor farming practices including non-compliance to usage of masks and over-usage of the chemicals compound this situation.<ref name="Loyn" /> In 1989, WHO and UNEP estimated that there were around 1 million human pesticide poisonings annually. Some 20,000 (mostly in developing countries) ended in death, as a result of poor labeling, loose safety standards etc.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pimentel, D. |title=Green revolution agriculture and chemical hazards |journal=The Science of the Total Environment |volume=188 |issue=Suppl |pages=S86–S98 |year=1996 |doi=10.1016/0048-9697(96)05280-1 |pmid=8966546 |bibcode=1996ScTEn.188S..86P |doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2014 study found that Indian children who were exposed to higher quantities of fertilizer agrochemicals experienced more adverse health impacts.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brainerd |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Menon |first2=Nidhiya |title=Seasonal effects of water quality: The hidden costs of the Green Revolution to infant and child health in India |journal=Journal of Development Economics |date=March 2014 |volume=107 |pages=49–64 |doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.11.004 }}</ref>