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Guatemala's green revolution: synthetic fertilizer, public health, and economic autonomy in the Mayan highland.

Abstract
Despite extensive literature both supporting and critiquing the Green Revolution, surprisingly little attention has been paid to synthetic fertilizers' health and environmental effects or indigenous farmers' perspectives. The introduction of agrochemicals in the mid-twentieth century was a watershed event for many Mayan farmers in Guatemala. While some Maya hailed synthetic fertilizers' immediate effectiveness as a relief from famines and migrant labor, other lamented the long-term deterioration of their public health, soil quality, and economic autonomy. Since the rising cost of agrochemicals compelled Maya to return to plantation labor in the 1970s, synthetic fertilizers simply shifted, rather than alleviated, Mayan dependency on the cash economy. By highlighting Mayan farmers' historical narratives and delineating the relationship between agricultural science and postwar geopolitics, the constraints on agriculturists' agency become clear. In the end, politics, more than technology or agricultural performance, influenced guatemala's shift toward the Green Revolution.
AuthorsDavid Carey Jr
JournalAgricultural history (Agric Hist) Vol. 83 Issue 3 Pg. 283-322 ( 2009) ISSN: 0002-1482 [Print] United States
PMID19824230 (Publication Type: Historical Article, Journal Article)
Chemical References
  • Agrochemicals
  • Fertilizers
  • Poisons
Topics
  • Agriculture (economics, education, history)
  • Agrochemicals (economics, history)
  • Commerce (economics, education, history)
  • Conservation of Natural Resources (economics, history)
  • Crops, Agricultural (economics, history)
  • Employment (economics, history, psychology)
  • Fertilizers (economics, history)
  • Food Supply (economics, history)
  • Geography (economics, education, history)
  • Green Chemistry Technology (economics, education, history)
  • Guatemala (ethnology)
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Indians, Central American (education, ethnology, history, legislation & jurisprudence, psychology)
  • Poisons (economics, history)
  • Politics
  • Public Health (economics, education, history)
  • Social Conditions (economics, history)
  • Socioeconomic Factors

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