The human race has always been concerned about food security. Scripture passages in the Old Testament speak of famines experienced by OT residents. Many famines were caused by droughts as described in Genesis and other Old Testament books. Famines described in the Bible were sometimes linked to unrighteous actions by humanity as well as natural events such as drought and pestilence.
In modern times food security is related to the human population explosion. During thousands of years of earth history world population never exceeded one billion. Since the beginning of the 19th century Earth’s population has grown from one billion to the current 8.25 billion. Depending on how world population is graphically presented we could describe the graph line as roughly horizontal for thousands of years but rising dramatically in the last two centuries.
Our last post highlighted the state of Iowa where we now reside and our state’s anticipation of another bountiful autumn harvest. To follow up on that article we call attention to one of the most gifted agriculturalists in the history of humanity. We speak of Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) whose ancestors migrated from Norway in the 19th century. Borlaug’s parents eventually settled in northeast Iowa. Their son, Norman, was involved in agriculture on the family farm early in his life. Ultimately he earned a PhD in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota.
Norman Borlaug was one of the most gifted humans of all time. His achievements illustrate the truth of a very popular Old Testament phrase taken from the Book of Esther: “…for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)
Borlaug was invited by the Mexican government to help the country increase their food supply. In this position he developed a semi-dwarf variety of wheat that increased Mexican wheat production six-fold and was also disease resistant. From 1944 to 1963 Mexico transitioned from a wheat importer to a wheat exporter. He was subsequently called by India and Pakistan to help with their national food security problem. Borlaug was known as the “Father of the Green Revolution.” The term Green Revolution is defined by Brittanica as follows: “The Green Revolution was a great increase in the production of food grains, especially wheat and rice, that was driven by the introduction of new, high-yield crop varieties into developing countries, beginning in the mid-20th century.”
We close with several personal recollections. My father was a hybrid seed agent in New York State in the 1940s and 1950s. In retrospect, as a young child I recall him speaking of single cross and double cross hybrid corn. He was echoing research discoveries from the hybrid seed company in Pennsylvania for whom he worked. Decades later, my discoveries concerning Norman Borlaug remind me of those early discussions. Borlaug developed new varieties of grain crops during that time. This gifted man is credited with saving upward of a billion human lives, preventing disastrous famine by increasing the supply of food.
In the very first chapter of the Bible, the Creator of Heaven and Earth encouraged humanity to “…fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion…” Norman Borlaug subdued the earth and defeated hunger. Subdue means defeat in the context of Genesis 1:28.
In this context have dominion indicates that one entity, humanity, rules over another entity—plants—using plants to serve humanity by providing nourishment to defeat hunger. We are thankful for the special gifts God imparts to humanity to “subdue…and have dominion.”
