# .end of plenty
Seven images by John Stanmeyer from the June 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine.
Above: Skilled fingers separate good seed from bad at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Philippines. "Miracle rice" varieties developed here in the 1960s doubled yields in Asia. Further growth has stalled since the mid-1990s, as investment in agriculture has declined. "Governments thought we'd won the war on food security," says IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler. "So they put money elsewhere."
Cover: ©2009 National Geographic
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
Brazil: A mountain of soybeans rises in the hold of a cargo ship bound for China, where they will be crushed for cooking oil and animal feed. Though China has managed to meet most of the food needs of its growing population, its imports of soybeans have soared.
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
Egypt: Stung by soaring food prices, angry Egyptians throng a kiosk selling government-subsidized bread near the Great Pyramid at Giza. Across the globe, rising demand and flat supplies have rekindled the old debate over whether production can keep up with population.
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
China: Every imaginable cut of pork is on display at a busy butcher stall in Guangzhou, a sign of prosperity in China's growing cities. A rare treat for most Chinese just a couple of decades ago, pork is showing up on more dinner tables, though the United States' per capita meat consumption is still more than twice as high. China now raises about half the world's pigs and must import grain to feed them.
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
India: Workers in India's fertile Punjab pull an overstuffed load of rice stalks to a farm where they will be used as animal feed. High-yielding varieties, along with subsidized fertilizer and irrigation, have helped India stave off famine for decades.
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
India: A hidden cost of the green revolution is evident in the plight of Gurjiwan Singh: Doctors say his birth defects are the result of pesticide poisoning. Supported by U.S. foundations in the mid-1960s, the use of high-yielding seeds, intensive irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides turned Singh's Punjab homeland into India's breadbasket, but left depleted, poisoned aquifers in its wake.
©2009 John Stanmeyer/National Geographic
Philippines: Continuing a 2,000-year-old tradition, women harvest rice by hand on the Banaue terraces in the Philippines. Even record harvests haven't been able to support the nation's 90 million people, forcing it to become the leading rice importer.
Источник: Photo News District.