Globalized Mergers and Acquisitions: The Dangers of a Monoculture

Abstract

The agricultural Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s was set in motion to attempt to solve the actual and projected shortfalls of food over the coming decades. Specialized hybrids of basic food crops, such as wheat, corn, and soybeans, could be created for higher yield, resistance to disease, and sustainable growth in various weather conditions and soils. The creation and widespread use of such designer plants were not, however, without its critics. One of the dangers pointed out was that since a single, specialized crop might be susceptible to an as‐yet‐unknown disease or blight or change in a weather pattern, a nation's or the world's entire harvest of that crop might be affected. The greater the diversity of seeds and crops, the less likely it would be that the system as a whole would be at risk. In addition, Malthusian forces would be in effect. That is, with more food available, world populations would tend to increase to the limits of available supply in bountiful times. Thus any future lean years would result in a crisis of far greater proportions than that then currently being faced. In general, the issue could be stated in a piece of farmers' folk‐wisdom: “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.”