Technology and World Hunger: A Comparison of the Role of Technology in Four Global Food Crises

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  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 15. Food and Technology

Abstract

Attempts to reduce hunger tend to focus on technology as a way to increase production and create an “adequate” food supply. This productivist perspective can be seen in many proposed solutions to world hunger, periodic global food crises, and more local famines. This paper aims to turn the idea that technology is the solution to hunger on its head by exploring how technology can exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, global food crises. This paper examines four instances of technology contributing to global food crises: the great famines in the late-1800s (especially, 1896-1902), the Great Depression in 1932-1936, the global food crisis in 1972-1974, and the global food crisis in 2008. The global diffusion and implementation of new technology preceded each of these periods. The particular technologies adopted, of course, differ by period: the expansion of railroads contributed to the crisis of the late-1800s, the adoption of farm machinery and equipment contributed to the crisis of the 1930s, the Green Revolution – centered on the diffusion of chemical fertilizers, machinery, and new varieties of wheat and rice – contributed to the 1970s crisis, and the diffusion of GE crops contributed to the crisis of 2008. The type or fundamental basis of the food crisis can also differ.

Author

• Bill Winders, Georgia Institute of Technology