Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

GREEN REVOLUTION

Intentions matter

Nature Plants volume 5, pages 1030–1031 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Much of the perception of the Green Revolution focuses on the broad techniques and resulting yields, but the socio-political dimensions of the project reflect a nuanced set of intentions and beneficiaries.

In the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, historian of science and technology Jonathan Harwood recently published a study challenging the persistent claim that the Green Revolution was intended primarily to maximize food production in order to alleviate global hunger and poverty after the Second World War1.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Harwood, J. Int. J. Agricult. Sust. 17, 312–325 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sharp, P. A. & Leshner, A. We need a New Green Revolution. The New York Times (4 January 2016).

  3. Folger, T. The next Green Revolution. Nat. Geo. 226, 33–56 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Shaw, J. A new Green Revolution? Harvard Magazine (March–April 2018).

  5. D’Arpizio, C., Levato, F., Prete, F., Del Fabbro, E. & de Montgolfier, J. The Future of Luxury: A Look into Tomorrow to Understand Today. Brain & Company https://www.bain.com/insights/luxury-goods-worldwide-market-study-fall-winter-2018/ (2018).

  6. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018. Building climate resilience for food security and nutrition (FAO, 2018).

  7. Coleman-Jensen, A. et al. Household Food Security in the United States in 2017 (USDA, 2018).

  8. Foster, J. B. Org. Environ. 25, 211–237 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Conrad, S. Past Present 216, 181–214 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Holleman, H. Dust Bowls of Empire: Imperialism, Environmental Politics, and the Injustice of “Green” Capitalism (Yale Univ. Press, 2018).

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA

    Hannah Holleman

  2. Department of Environmental Studies, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA

    Hannah Holleman

Authors
  1. Hannah Holleman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah Holleman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Holleman, H. Intentions matter. Nat. Plants 5, 1030–1031 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0524-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0524-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing