A biography for Norman Borlaughasn’t been written yet.
“In my Nobel lecture, I suggested we had until the year 2000 to tame the population monster, and then food shortages would take us under. Now I believe we have a little longer.”
“I like the back country, wildlife and all of that, but it's wrong to force poor people to live that way.”
“Almost certainly, however, the first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind.”
“As far as plants are concerned, they can't tell whether that nitrate ion comes from artificial chemicals or from decomposed organic matter.”
“Civilization as it is known today could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply.”
“Most people still fail to comprehend the magnitude and menace of the 'Population Monster.'”
“Africa needs roads. Roads bring know-how and fertilizer to farmers and ideas and business for commerce.”
“Central African farmers don't have any animal power because sleeping sickness kills all the animals - cattle, the horses, the burros and the mules. So draft animals don't exist, and farming is all by hand, and the hand tools are hoes and machetes.”
“The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind.”
“Abnormal stresses and strains tend to accentuate man's animal instincts and provoke irrational and socially disruptive behavior among the less stable individuals in the maddening crowd.”
“During the past three years spectacular progress has been made in increasing wheat, rice, and maize production in several of the most populous developing countries of southern Asia, where widespread famine appeared inevitable only five years ago.”
“Roads are essential to any type of agricultural development.”
“It's amazing how often campaigners in rich countries think poor people don't get backache.”
“If some consumers believe that it's better from the point of view of their health to have organic food, God bless them. Let them buy it. Let them pay a bit more.”
“These places I've seen have clubbed my mind - they are so poor and depressing. I don't know what we can do to help these people, but we've got to do something.”
“Contrasting sharply, in the developing countries represented by India, Pakistan, and most of the countries in Asia and Africa, seventy to eighty percent of the population is engaged in agriculture, mostly at the subsistence level.”
“Supplying food to sub-Saharan African countries is made very complex because of a lack of infrastructure.”
“If people want to believe that the organic food has better nutritive value, it's up to them to make that foolish decision. But there's absolutely no research that shows that organic foods provide better nutrition.”
“Yet food is something that is taken for granted by most world leaders despite the fact that more than half of the population of the world is hungry.”
“Cereal production in the rain-fed areas still remains relatively unaffected by the impact of the green revolution, but significant change and progress are now becoming evident in several countries.”