Farm Kid

This guy changed the world;
Borlaug

A remarkable person, who did change the world...
I sometimes wish, though, I could tell whether we (speaking of mankind as a whole) made the best use of his work...
He kept millions from starving, and fed hundreds of millions more, for which he is revered...
Our question is: did his work permit the rest of us (speaking of mankind as a whole) avoid the harder decisions to limit our population growth to more sustainable levels...have the hundreds of millions saved now become billions, and we're back to "square #1", looking under rocks for another Norm Borlaug, so we can avoid the hard questions again??
Norm didn't have any choice in the matter; it's our own failure (still speaking of man as a whole) to take better advantage of the opportunity he gave us....

Mainland China benefitted some from his plant work- they also made the political decision to limit birth rate. Chinese getting cussed at by some people in countries that have to fight neighbors for cropland or send young people elsewhere- or increase elder death rate. Availability of improved crops doesn"t help much when knowledgable people aren"t allowed to plant them (see Rhodesia/Zimbabwe) or confused economics and politics reduce needed material available - (see Ukrain/poland/Belarus). Organic gardening methods highlighted in Cuba- they lost source of cheap fertilizer when Soviet Union collapsed. Chavez encouraging gardens in cities to feed people- it"s working fairly well to cover lack of fertilizer and farm equipment parts in his countryside farms but is narrow margin. Sandinistas had a problem getting food from country when they tried collective farm methods and price controls as part of their land reforms. Government interference with farm practices can cause some grief- US has annoyances, not disaster yet because of reserve land and normal surplus of corn, soybean, wheat crops. But the 1930s dust bowl from droughts and plowing fragile top soil is still a reminder- southeast drought conditions past couple years in places is another reminder. Californias irrigated fields feed a lot- but water level dropping many places and water diverted to main cities to flush toilets and wash cars doesn"t help even with improvd strains of crop. RN