The impact of technological innovation

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  • The impact of technological innovation
    • Who developed the crops?
      • Green revolution
        • Research institutes e.g. International Rice Research Institute
      • Gene Revolution
        • TNCs and bio-tech companies
    • Which crops are grown
      • Green Revolution
        • First crop 'TR8' was rice but other varieties now replace it as more resistant
      • Gene Revolution
        • Bt maize and Bt cotton and herbicide resistant soybean
    • Where are the crops grown ?
      • Green Revolution
        • HYV rice grown in Asia. HYV wheat grown in Latin America. HYV crops in Africa
      • Gene Revolution
        • GM soya bean most widely planted USA, China, Latin America and Canada have large areas of GM crops
    • Benefits
      • Green Revolution
        • Rapid growth allows 2 crops per year
        • Yields 10x traditional rice
        • Now bred to be disease and pest resistant
        • India been self-sufficient in rice since 1980s
      • Gene Revolution
        • Some varieties have been bred for nutrient e.g. Golden rice contains vitamin A
        • Crops are resistant to herbicide so weeds can be killed without crop damage
    • Have they increased food production?
      • Green Revolution
        • Yields of wheat, rice and maize grew by 2% year between 1967-1996
      • Gene Revolution
        • Most GM crops are fed to animals
    • Unforeseen consequences
      • Green Revolution
        • 1,Solar polarisation- larger farmers could afford fertilisers ect so benefited the most
        • 2, Monocultures- HYVs are vulnerable to new strains of disease
        • 3, Dependency- needs high inputs of fertilisers, water and machinery to maintain yields
        • 4, Environmental problems- widespread use of agrochemicals lead to Eutrophocation
      • Gene Revolution
        • 1, Led to export boom which helped Argentina to recover from serious crash in 2001
        • 2, Number of farms has fallen by 60,000 as area of GM soybean x3
        • 3, Decline in areas of maize and sunflower by 5 million hectares reducing food security among the poor

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