Four Blades of Grass

1863年，美国农业部长艾萨克·牛顿写道：“这应该是每一个年轻农民的目标……在以前只种一片草的地方种上两片草。”从1863年到1940年，农业生产的增加主要是由于种植面积的增加，部分是由于每英亩产量的增加。然而，自1940年以来，发生了一场“绿色革命”，通过科学的植物育种方法，每英亩的产量不仅增加了牛顿目标的两倍，而且增加了四倍，从而使“四片草长在以前长的地方，而不是一片。”珀金斯博士正在继续研究这场绿色革命及其对人类社会生活的影响：在全球范围内，我们正在成为一个主要生活在城市地区的物种，只有少数人在农村地区从事生产型农业。这一转变在工业化国家基本完成，在工业化程度较低的国家仍在进行中。作为一门科学，植物育种在概念上基本上依赖于孟德尔最先提出的遗传理论。为了更有效地发挥作用，植物育种者依赖于统计学家、植物生理学家、土壤学家、植物病理学家、农业工程师和食品技术学家的见解。大多数育种者在政府和大学实验室找到了自己的机构，但也有一些人在私营公司工作。战争和国家安全问题塑造了植物育种者工作的政治经济背景。第一次世界大战中的事件为植物育种作为国家资产的发展奠定了基础。第二次世界大战、殖民帝国的灭亡和冷战为植物繁殖提供了巨大的推动，因为各国寻求通过提高粮食生产来提高安全性。现在，如果不讨论这门科学的战略含义，就不可能理解政治机构对植物育种的处理方式。珀金斯博士正在对英国、印度和美国农业行业的复杂性进行比较研究，尤其是小麦育种，以此来研究所有这些问题。这项研究是通过对原始档案来源的审查、口头访谈和对已发表文献的搜索来进行的。

In 1863, US Secretary of Agriculture Isaac Newton wrote that "It should be the aim of every young farmer . . . to make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before." From 1863 to 1940, increases in agricultural production were due largely to increases in the acreage cultivated and partially to enhanced production per acre. Since 1940, however, a "green revolution" has occurred in which, through scientific plant breeding methods, production per acre has increased not just two fold as Newton aimed for but four fold so that "four blades of grass grow where but one grew before." Dr. Perkins is continuing his examination of this green revolution and the impact it has had on human social life: globally, we are becoming a species that lives primarily in urban areas with only a minority of people left in production agriculture in the rural areas. This transformation is essentially complete in industrialized countries and is still underway in less industrialized nations. As a science, plant breeding has been fundamentally dependent conceptually upon the genetic theories first proposed by Mendel. In order to function productively, plant breeders were dependent upon insights from statisticians, plant physiologists, soil scientists, plant pathologists, agricultural engineers, and food technologists. Most breeders found their institutional homes in government and university laboratories, but some worked for private companies. Issues of war and national security shaped the political economic context in which plant breeders worked. Events in World War I set the stage for the growth of plant breeding as a national asset. World War II, the demise of colonial empires, and the cold war provided enormous boost to plant breeding as nations sought increased security through enhanced food production. It is now impossible to understand the treatment of plant breeding by political institutions without discussing the strategic implications of the science. Dr. Perkins is examining all these issues in the context of a comparative study of the complexities of the agricultural industry, especially wheat breeding, in Britain,India and the United States. The research is being carried out through examination of primary archival sources, oral interviews and search of the published literature.