Agriculture today would not be the same without the Green Revolution that significantly increased the amount of crops produced per acre of land. The Revolution describes the changes in agricultural practices which started in Mexico in the 1940s. Scientist Norman Borlaug developed new varieties of wheat that were disease- resistant and produced high Quantities. Along with new mechanised agricultural technologies, innovations in the way land is watered and the use of chemical fertilizers, Mexico was able to produce more wheat than was needed by its own citizens, leading to it becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s. Prior to this, the country had imported almost half of its wheat supply.

The technologies soon spread worldwide. India, which was close to a mass famine in the early 1960s, was able to become one of the world’s leading rice producers with help from Borlaug, who developed a new variety of rice. There have been criticisms of the Green Revolution, however. The first is that the increased amount of food production has led to overpopulation worldwide. The second is that places like Africa have not significantly benefited from it. Despite these criticisms, the Green Revolution has forever changed the way agriculture is conducted worldwide, benefiting people of many nations in need of increased food production.