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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Factual: Money

The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world

Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Dwarf wheat

Discussion & Talk

Dwarf wheat

08/06/2019 GMT

BBC World Service - 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy, Dwarf wheat

Feeding a hungry world – how Norman Borlaug used genetics to tackle predicted famines

Predictions of mass starvation might have been averted by Norman Borlaug’s work tinkering with the genetic design of wheat – but worries about overpopulation continue.

The Population Bomb, published by Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich in 1968, predicted that populations would grow more quickly than food supplies, causing mass starvation. Ehrlich was wrong: food supplies kept pace. And that’s largely due to the years Norman Borlaug spent growing different strains of wheat in Mexico. The 'green revolution' vastly increased yields of wheat, corn and rice. Yet, as Tim Harford describes, worries about overpopulation continue. The world’s population is still growing, and food yields are now increasing more slowly – partly due to environmental problems the green revolution itself made worse. Will new technologies come to the rescue?

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