Lester R. Brown worked for the USDA from 1959-1969, first as an international agricultural analyst. During this time, he authored two influential books on food and agriculture issues. In one instance, Brown sent a cable to the Secretary of Agriculture warning of an impending famine in India due to drought. This mobilized the US to ship 10 million tons of wheat to India and avert famine. Brown later became the Administrator of the International Agricultural Development Service at age 32, making him the youngest agency head in government.

1. THE USDA YEARS
photos of Lester R. Brown

2. Just starting at the Foreign Agricultural
Service of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture as an international
agricultural analyst, 1959-69

3. Lester’s first
book, published
November 1963

4. The issue that launched
Lester’s analysis in Man,
Land and Food and brought
him to the attention of
Orville Freeman, the
Secretary of Agriculture.

6. Lester second book,
published April 1965

7. Cable Lester sent to Secretary of
Agriculture Orville Freeman to
notify him of an impending
famine in India due to a
countrywide drought. This
cable—and that Freeman took it
seriously—mobilized the United
States to ship 10 million tons of
wheat to India and thus averted
a famine. It also enabled the U.S.
to put pressure on India to
change their agricultural policies,
which Lester was instrumental in
drafting.

8. With Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman in early 1966 at the White House for a
Sunday night meeting on the food crisis in India.

10. The Manhattan
tanker was
commissioned
for grain relief in
India, serving as
a port in the
Bay of Bengal
since India did
not have a large
enough port to
handle the grain
shipments. Small
boats, dhows,
offloaded grain
and moved it
up the Ganges
River and its
tributaries to
the most
drought-
effected areas.

11. Lester with President Lyndon Johnson and several other Outstanding Young Men in Federal
Service awardees, 1965

12. Lester bring congratulated by President Lyndon Johnson in the Oval Office on receiving the
Ten Outstanding Young Men in Federal Service award, 1965

13. Administrator, International
Agricultural Development
Service, 1966-69. Lester was
responsible for managing
agricultural programs in
some forty countries, and, at
32, he was the youngest
agency head in government.

14. Available at
www.earthpolicy.org/books/bng
Or call 202-496-9290
Order from Earth Policy Institute, the
independent environmental research
organization headed by Lester Brown.
ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY