Looking for Win-Wins in Intensive Agriculture

Agricultural intensification through the use of high-yielding crop varieties, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation, and mechanization— known as the green revolution— has been responsible for dramatic increases in grain production in developing countries over the past four decades. Expansion of food production into previously nonagricultural lands has likewise increased, but was responsible for only around 10 percent of the overall increased production in the three decades following the beginning of the green revolution (table 3.1; Naylor 1996). Most analysts estimate that close to a doubling of food production will be required in the coming several decades to meet the needs of a growing population and improve food quality and quantity for all, and these increases will most likely take place through continued intensification (FAO 2006a; Bruinsma 2009).