High-yield crop varieties, synthetic fertilizers, and irrigation technologies dramatically increased grain production across Asia and Latin America, preventing predicted famines but creating dependency on purchased inputs. Norman Borlaug's innovations saved millions from starvation while consolidating agribusiness power and displacing traditional farming knowledge. Green Revolution exemplified technocratic optimism about solving hunger through science rather than redistribution.

Indian poets like A.K. Ramanujan and Kamala Das critiqued Green Revolution's ecological costs and cultural homogenization in verses mourning lost biodiversity and indigenous practices. Latin American testimonio literature documented campesino displacement by capital-intensive agriculture promoted as progress. Eco-poetry movements emerged partly in response to industrial farming's environmental degradation celebrated as developmental success.