“The Green Revolution didn’t work” …….really?

I was told again recently that “the Green Revolution didn’t work.”

My response is always the same: 60 years of hindsight is a wonderful thing. Yes, it had flaws—but it also lifted over a billion people out of hunger. But, if I had time to explain, one study that really shaped my thinking is the 2010 PNAS paper by Burney, Davis & Lobell (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914216107), a not to be forgotten platform paper for GHG emission checks and measures. They demonstrated that for every $1 invested in yield improvements, agriculture avoided 249 kgCO₂e (relative to 1961 practices). That’s around 13.1 GtCO₂e avoided every year.

Regenerative agriculture is not about “turning back the clock” or tearing down innovations because of hindsight. Yes, critics often note that modern agriculture contributes ~16 GtCO₂e annually. But that’s only half the story. It also avoids ~13 GtCO₂e each year because of intensification. The Green Revolution worked. The challenge now is making it better—because farming innovation provide security and reduces risk.

Are these GHG balances perfect? No, they’re educated guesses. But having spent most of my career working like this with the data available, I believe we need more of these assessments, not fewer, to guide future innovation, not stifle it.

Source: I was told again recently that “the Green Revolution didn’t work.”