The element phosphorus has no substitute in sustaining all life and food production on our planet. Yet today's phosphorus use patterns have resulted in both a global environmental epidemic of eutrophication and led to a situation where the future availability of the world's main sources of phosphorus is uncertain. This paper examines the important history of human interference with the phosphor...

How do we feed the nine billion people who are projected to inhabit the Earth by 2050? the issue is one of serious concern (ash et al, 2010; Butler, 2010), as an increase in food production of up to 40% will be needed to cope with the growing population. in response, many scientists, politicians and economists have proposed a second ‘green revolution’. their call references the first green revo...

To meet the growing demands under the constrains of depleting natural resources, environmental fluctuation and increased risk of epidemic outbreak, the task of increasing wheat production has become daunting. The euphoria generated by first green revolution is very quickly subsiding and the second generation problems are becoming more intense with each passing year. The factors responsible for ...

Despite extensive literature both supporting and critiquing the Green Revolution, surprisingly little attention has been paid to synthetic fertilizers' health and environmental effects or indigenous farmers' perspectives. The introduction of agrochemicals in the mid-twentieth century was a watershed event for many Mayan farmers in Guatemala. While some Maya hailed synthetic fertilizers' immedia...

Faced with large-scale food insecurity in the mid-twentieth century, India adopted innovative agricultural technologies as part of the Green Revolution. While these technologies expanded agricultural productivity, this paper argues that the program was a disruptive force to Indian social, economic, and political systems, specifically in the rural setting. An analysis of outcomes of the Green Re...

The Green Revolution boosted crop yields in developing nations by introducing dwarf genotypes of wheat and rice capable of responding to fertilisation without lodging. We now need a second Green Revolution, to improve the yield of crops grown in infertile soils by farmers with little access to fertiliser, who represent the majority of thirdworld farmers. Just as the Green Revolution was based o...