1940s–1970 CE · selected research and adoption phase · Global · Science
Public research institutes, plant breeders and farmers developed and adopted high-yielding wheat and rice varieties, especially in Mexico and parts of South and Southeast Asia, alongside irrigation, fertilizer, credit and extension systems.
Atlas dossier · Cold War & DecolonizationFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
Semi-dwarf wheat and rice varieties produced high yields where breeding was joined to irrigation, fertilizer, pest control, credit, extension and procurement. Mexican wheat programmes and Asian rice institutes followed different paths, while farmers selected and adapted crops rather than merely receiving technology from one celebrated scientist.
Nobel Peace Prize 1970: Norman Borlaug ↗Higher cereal output reduced some famine risks, but adoption favoured irrigated regions and farmers able to obtain land, water and capital. Intensive input use created groundwater, soil and pollution pressures, and the first wave largely bypassed many crops and regions. The timeline is therefore a selected adoption phase, not a universal revolution completed by 1970.
Academic research on the Green Revolution ↗A visual presentation accompanying this entry. Read each image’s attribution to distinguish archival records, later depictions and reconstructions.
Enlarge and examine the pictureRights-cleared archival or official image · Public domain
Norman Borlaug (2004).jpg — Ben Zinner, USAID; Public domain; via Wikimedia Commons
Source and reuse terms ↗Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
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