Dr. M.S. Swaminathan & the Green Revolution

In the mid-1960s, India was importing grain to hold off famine. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, a young scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, worked with Norman Borlaug to adapt high-yielding dwarf wheat to Indian conditions — and then took it straight to the farmers who would grow it.

From 1965, thousands of demonstration plots across northern India put the new varieties in front of farmers. Within four crop seasons, the country’s wheat harvest rose from about 12 million to 23 million tonnes, and in 1971 India was declared self-sufficient in food production.

He never stopped at yield. In 1990 he called for an “evergreen revolution” — farming that stays productive for generations without harming the soil and ecology it depends on.

“Productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm.”

That idea is what inspires Plant Health Products. Our bio-stimulants, humates and crop protection products are made to help farmers raise this season’s yield while looking after the soil for the next one.

• First World Food Prize laureate, 1987
• Bharat Ratna, 2024

Dr. Swaminathan and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation are not affiliated with, and have not endorsed, Plant Health Products or its products.