Abstract: This chapter is concerned with the use of biological and non-biological technologies to improve crop production in the 20th century. During the first half of the century, increases in food production were mainly due to use of additional land and chemical inputs such as fertilizers. However, after 1950, improvements made possible by the new biotechnologies had a more decisive impact on global food production. The earliest biological breakthrough was the development of hybrid maize, which transformed yields in North America from the 1920s. In terms of increasing global crop production, by far the most important breeding achievements came from the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. This principally involved the breeding of shorter wheat and rice cultivars with enhanced disease/pest resistance that were responsive to fertilizers and to mechanical technologies such as harvesters. After the 1970s, the pace of crop improvement accelerated as technologies such as wide crossing and mutagenesis were deployed. Another development was the cultivation of transgenic crops. Although first-generation genetically modified crops had only modest impacts on yield or quality, they were significant in opening up new possibilities to create genetic variation for breeders, and in the way they changed commercial agriculture and its perception by the general public.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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