180 Green Revolution junta came without much bloodshed and with a general spirit of leniency See also Cyprus, Turkish invasion of Further reading: Couloumbis, Theodore The Greek Junta Phenomenon New York: Pella, 2004; Georghiou, Vassos The Unrepentant Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, 2005; McNeill, William H Metamorphosis of Greece since World War II Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978; Woodhouse, C M The Rise and Fall of the Colonels London: Granada, 1985; Yennaris, Costas From the East: Conflict and Partition in Cyprus Cambridge: Elliot and Thompson, 2003 Theodore W Eversole Green Revolution The term Green Revolution refers to the incredible transformation of agriculture in developing nations between the 1940s and 1960s Programs of agricultural research and the development of infrastructure led to significant increases in agricultural production The Green Revolution has had significant social and ecological impact on the world, and because of this has been equally praised and criticized For English wheat yield to increase from one-half metric ton per hectare to two metric tons took 1,000 years; the increase from two to six metric tons took only 40 years The change took place due to improvements in breeding, agronomy, and the use of pesticides and fertilizers The result was that by the second half of the 20th century most industrial countries were agriculturally self-sufficient Developing countries were less fortunate Colonial powers invested little in the food production systems of their colonies and did nothing to slow population growth, so by independence in the 1950s–1960s, the new nations were approaching a crisis By the mid1960s hunger and malnutrition were widespread Asia was particularly dependent on food aid from developed countries India suffered back-to-back droughts in the mid-1960s, exacerbating the problem The Rockefeller and Ford foundations led in the establishment of the international agricultural research system to adapt the latest science and technology to the Third World Efforts focused on rice and wheat, two of the principal sources of food in the developing world U.S Agency for International Development administrator William S Gaud coined the term “Green Revolution” in 1968 The Green Revolution created higher crop yields, but also may have contributed to widespread environmental damage The Green Revolution spread rapidly By 1970 approximately 20 percent of the Third World’s wheat area and 30 percent of the rice land in developing countries were planted in high-yield varieties By 1990 the share was 70 percent for both The Green Revolution led to markedly improved yields of cereal grains during the 1960s–1970s due to the development of new seeds through genetics The beginnings came in Mexico during the 1940s when Dr Norman E Borlaug led a team that developed a strain of wheat that was resistant to disease and efficient in converting fertilizer and water into grain Shorter and sturdier stalks were necessary to allow the plant to hold the larger grain yield Borlaug developed dwarf varieties with the requisite characteristics Initially, Mexico was importing half the wheat it needed By 1956 it was self-sufficient, and by 1964 it was exporting half a million tons annually Equal success in India and Pakistan kept millions of people from starving As the technologies spread through the world, crop yields increased each year But as production of rice and wheat and other genetically altered crops grew, output of other indigenous crops, including pulses, declined After wheat came corn, although with less success Building on the efforts of China, Japan, and Taiwan, the International Rice Research Institute developed semidwarf rice plants By 1992 a network of 18 research centers, primarily in developing countries, continued the effort to improve yields Funding came from the Rockefeller Foundation and other private foundations, nation-