John Ruan, the former Chairman of the World Food Prize, was committed to bringing forward a Second Green Revolution. Big advances in farming are often attributed to John Deere and the self-cleaning plow, which opened up farming in the Midwest, but the Green Revolution of the 1950’s and 1960’s brought forth high yielding grains, especially dwarf wheat and rice. It was associated with agrochemicals and irrigation, as well as newer methods of cultivation and mechanization. Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He is credited with increasing global food production and saving over a billion people from starvation.
The Next Green Revolution is likely to be biological farming, driving sustainability, sequestering carbon and often known as Regenerative Agriculture or RegenAg.
In preparation for the recent post on the World Food Prize, and its 2022 Laureate, who practically created the intersection between econometric, farm and crop planning and weather modeling, Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, I found several interesting comments from the former Chairman of the World Food Prize, John Ruan.
The World Food Prize is now even more vital to inspiring a second Green Revolution that is necessary to prevent the possibility of future food crises. Right now, close to one billion people still suffer from malnutrition, nearly one-sixth of the world population, primarily women and children, infants and the unborn.
It was Norman Borlaug, the original funder of the World Food Prize who talked the need for a Second Green Revolution, in their later years of involvement.
Ruan said, about Norman Borlaug’s work, Exhibiting the virtues he learned growing up, continued almost to the very end of his life, he traveled the world to promote greater attention to, and investment in, rural infrastructure (particularly roads and bridges), agricultural research, and education. Norm believed all these are essential if we are to have the next “Green Revolution,” – the one which will lift the remaining one billion people out of the misery of malnutrition and end pandemic poverty.
I believe the Regenerative Agriculture Movement, that we are now seeing, has begun to advance exponentially, both nationally and globally, is the Second Green Revolution.
Regenerative Ag will be playing a primary role in Climate Change reversal, through soil-based carbon sequestration. Assuming we can act fast enough, and are bold enough, like this year’s World Food Prize Laureate, we can launch the Second Green Revolution. Restoring soil health can not only to help Feed the World, but to help Sustain, and help Regenerate the Health and Future of the World.
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