In the mid-1970s, a young anthropologist, Steve Lansing, arrived in Indonesia to study the ancient rituals of the water temples on the volcanic slopes of Bali. In a less spiritual realm, the island’s agronomists were stumbling into an agricultural mess. Bali once had the highest rice yields in Indonesia, and throughout the 1970s, the Green Revolution brought new varieties of rice to the stepped paddy fields. Yet despite intensive training and expert advice, by the early 1980s the new crops were overwhelmed by pests.
上世紀70年代中期,年輕的人類學家史蒂夫?蘭辛(Steve Lansing)來到印尼,研究巴厘島火山坡上那些水神廟里的古老儀式。與此同時,在與宗教毫不沾邊的農業(yè)領域,巴厘島的農學家們正在釀造一場大麻煩。巴厘島曾經是印尼稻米產量最高的地區(qū)。上世紀70年代,通過推行“綠色革命”,巴厘島引入了一些新的稻米品種,并在梯田上種植。盡管進行了大量培訓并有專家提供指導,但到上世紀80年代初,新品種稻田全都毀于蟲害。