Good question I think. Norman Borlaug was known for transforming places with food importers into food exporters. And to ask the question again occasionally makes sense. In recent history we are exploring the idea of vertical gardening etc. I was joking to someone once that we should grow watermelons vertically so that the large heavy melons could power a carousel style escalator or water pumping mechanism.
I've always wondered why governments can't run social networks for giving voice/reputation to citizens weighing in on current issues to give rise to a phenomenon similar to the net in the Ender's Game books that gave voice to Ender's siblings. There exists a lot of untapped potential to harness the passion of the armchair pundits but no pressure to mold this passion into grassroot hierarchical influence that could potentially grant political sway for individual's expert opinions. Currently opinionated relatives of holiday dinner & BBQ socials are under little pressure to cultivate their passion beyond a small inner circle of hostages of social etiquette - if only they had an outlet to mold that cunning & passion, to temper it with the satisfaction of having your opinionated views addressed by the big shot president of the times. In the book, these kids are calling shots under pen names. It's fun to think about.