Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in developing high-yield wheat and other grains in India and other Third World nations. His work was a major part of the “Green Revolution” that resulted in dramatically increased worldwide food production in the early 1970s. In the following viewpoint, Borlaug warns that, because of the growing number of people worldwide, new advances in agricultural production are needed to prevent widespread starvation. Borlaug argues that the genetic engineering of crops could be one such breakthrough. He believes that genetically engineering crops is little different from the crossbreeding among plant species that occurs in nature, and he argues that it is irresponsible for affluent environmentalists to prevent these types of foods from reaching developing nations.

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