THE WASHINGTON POST –

By Erin Blakemore – April 18, 2020 – https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/how-unintended-consequences-unraveled-a-legendary-agricultural-achievement/2020/04/17/b62f0f04-7ff0-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html

In the 1960s and 1970s, a single farm scientist became a public hero, credited with ending famine in much of the developing world. Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution, an agricultural method born of the high-yield crops he pioneered, was almost universally lauded.

But were his well-intentioned methods a good deed — or a dangerous trap? “The Man Who Tried to Feed the World,” on PBS’s American Experience series on Tuesday, tells the story of how unintended consequences unraveled a legendary achievement.

It’s easy to understand why Borlaug’s ideas held so much promise: The variety of wheat the scientist created resisted rust, a fungal disease that was responsible for devastating crop epidemics in the developing world. With the help of Borlaug’s hybrid wheat and plentiful water, pesticides and chemical fertilizer, farmers could produce enormous yields in places…