Philanthropy, agriculture and social development: lessons from the long Green Revolution

This chapter explores the role of large US foundations in shaping agricultural development policy and practice over the last 70 years. Their postwar vision of a “Green Revolution” to modernise developing country agriculture has been sustained throughout successive development eras through evolving combinations of technical, market and policy ‘fixes’ that have aligned domestic policies and farmer practices ever more closely with priorities of transnational agribusiness. Increasing support among development agencies for integrating social protection into agricultural development has opened policy space to advocate for transformative approaches that go beyond the roll-out of digital transfers championed by elite foundations, among others, to create synergies between social protection and entitlements to food. Meanwhile, recent insights into tensions between conventional agricultural productivity goals and properties of resilient, “climate-wise” farming systems highlight the need for further research on informal social protection mechanisms in different agroecological contexts, and how these might be integrated into formal interventions.