PROFILES in (white) PRIVILEGE #2 – Norman Borlaug

This AMERICAN AGRONOMIST led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the EXTENSIVE INCREASES in agricultural (WHEAT) production termed the GREEN REVOLUTION.

BORLAUG was often called “the FATHER of the GREEN REVOLUTION”,  and is CREDITED with SAVING over a BILLION people WORLDWIDE from STARVATION.

The Cooperative Wheat Research Production Program, a joint venture by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, involved research in geneticsplant breeding, plant pathology, entomologyagronomysoil science, and cereal technology. 

The goal of the project was to BOOST wheat production in Mexico, which at the time was importing a large portion of its grain. 

In 1965, after extensive testing, Borlaug’s team, under began its effort by importing about 450 tons of Lerma Rojo and Sonora 64 semi-dwarf seed varieties: 250 tons went to Pakistan and 200 to India. 

They encountered many obstacles.

During the mid-1960s, the INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT was at WAR and experienced FAMINE and STARVATION, which was limited partially by the U.S. shipping a fifth of its wheat production to India in 1966 & 1967.

The INDIAN and PAKISTANI BUREAUCRACIES and the region’s cultural OPPOSITION to new agricultural techniques initially PREVENTED Borlaug from fulfilling his desire to immediately plant the new wheat strains there.

In 1965, as a response to food shortages, Borlaug imported 550 tons of seeds for the government.

NORMAN BORLAUG (shown below) CONTEMPLATING HIS “WHITE PRIVILEGE” and POWER and HIS DEMON-ized ROLE in WORLD EXPLOITATION, OPPRESSION and DOMINATION.

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