Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development

In Memorium: M. S. Swaminathan

borlauginstitute — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:21:46 +0000

“We were so very saddened to learn of the passing of the good Dr. Swaminathan, one of the heroes of the Green Revolution,” said Dr. Elsa Murano, Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. “Swami,” as he was known to his friends, was not only a groundbreaking agricultural scientist and plant geneticist, he was also an effective administrator and a world-changing humanitarian. His collaboration was critically important in helping the institute’s namesake, Dr. Norman Borlaug, introduce a new variety of dwarf wheat to India and in helping carry out the trials that resulted in adaptation of the crop to the environmental conditions in the country. As a result, millions of lives were saved. This technology then spread to other countries saving the lives of over a billion people.

Swami was the first person to receive the prestigious World Food Prize, which was established by Dr. Borlaug. He also served in the Parliament of India for one term, and was president of the Pugwash Conferences and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. His other awards included the Albert Einstein World Science Award and, in 1999, TIME magazine named him one of the ’20 Most Influential Asian People of the 20th Century.’

Dr. Swaminathan’s legacy as an agricultural research scientist and policy leader in crop genetics and breeding remains alive at the Borlaug Institute. We will continue to strive to advance not only the Green Revolution, but as Dr. Swaminathan called it the “Evergreen Revolution,” being ever vigilant in protecting our natural resources – a concept he strongly championed. May his legacy never be forgotten!

Learn more about Dr. Swaminathan’s legacy from obituaries featured in in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist.

Following up on Norman Borlaug’s Last Wishes about Africa

Elisabeth Button — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 01:32:06 +0000

Pedro A. Sanchez is Research Professor of Tropical Soils at the University of Florida Soil & Water Sciences Department and core faculty of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems. Prior to that, he was Director of the Agriculture and Food Security Center and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

He served as Director General of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya from 1991-2001, as co-chair of the United Nations Millennium Project Hunger Task Force from 2002 – 2005, and as director of the Millennium Villages Project from 2004 – 2010. Sanchez is Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Forestry at North Carolina State University, where he served in the faculty from 1968-1991. He has lived in Cuba, the Philippines, Peru, Colombia and Kenya, and supervised research programs in over 25 countries of Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Sanchez has written groundbreaking books on tropical soil science and hunger, and has received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), Guelph University (Canada), Ohio State University and North Carolina State University. Sanchez was anointed Chief by the Luo in western Kenya with the name of Odera Akang’o, and by the Ikaram of southern Nigeria with the name of Atunluse. He is the 2002 World Food Prize laureate, a 2004 MacArthur Fellow, and was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012. At his induction, the president of the Academy summarized why he was elected: “Sanchez has led path-breaking research on soil management for improved food production in the tropical world. His work has influenced research in agronomy, ecology, and changed the way technology is used to increase food production.”

On September 12, 2009 in his deathbed, Norman Borlaug´s last thoughts were about worries about Africa. At his funeral at Texas A&M several of us attending said “we are on it, Norm”. Tremendous changes has taken place in 12 or so relatively well-governed countries since then. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa-AGRA has brought together an amorphous group of public and private institutions, smallholder farmers, political leaders, shop keepers, small agribusiness men and women, bankers, IT specialists, donor agencies, and scientists working at national institutions, universities and CGIAR centers together in a loose coalition that is transforming smallholder agriculture into agriculture as a business.

As a result average maize yields in Sub Saharan Africa have increased from 1 ton/ha in 2005 to 1.75 tons/ha in 2015, and the equivalent in many other crop and livestock products. Work on crop germplasm improvement has expanded to cover all aspects of the seed value chain, including indigenous seed companies. Work on soil fertility replenishment is also beginning to take shape along a fertilizer value chain that includes soil maps, databases, bringing the laboratory to the farm to produce fertilizer recommendations that a new group of blending plants can produce, financing, agrodealers and IT-based extension. The overall goal of increasing cereal yields to 3 tons/ha is now in sight, and coupled together with better governance and enlightened leadership will make Africa south of the Sahara a positive and major world economic force, with well-fed and healthy people.

The Importance of Higher Education in Development: An Africa Focus

Elisabeth Button — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 21:46:52 +0000

Dr. Montague W. Demment has been an influential advocate for developing colleges and universities in growing nations through his role as Vice President of International Programs with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Dr. Demment will illustrate how U.S. institutions of higher education, if partnered with developing-nation colleges and universities, together can strengthen institutions of social mobility, innovation, and economic growth, while establishing critical diplomatic, economic, and political ties with the United States. Africans will represent half of the 2 billion people projected to be added to the planet by 2050. This youth will either be, if well educated, a source of creativity that will lead to economic growth and social cohesion or if not, a source of instability. With targeted investments, U.S. universities can help developing countries reduce poverty, alleviate hunger, grow economies and develop innovative solutions to the world’s most challenging development problems.

Agripreneurs Find Agrilutions

Elisabeth Button — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 15:00:51 +0000

Alpha Sennon is an international agriculture sensation from Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He has founded the non profit WHYFARM and developed the AGRIman character to educate youth about agriculture worldwide. Mr. Sennon will deliver a fast-paced and informative lecture about Agricultural Entrepreneurship and how it can used to find Agricultural solutions using a mixture of arts, creativity, music, poetry, and animations as tangible extension tools, making Agriculture, AgriCOOLture for youth. This session will feature the development and growth of WHYFARM as an example of a creative Agrilution.

GMO’s to Cell Phones: Technology’s Role in Feeding Our Growing World Population

Elisabeth Button — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 15:00:52 +0000

Monsanto CTO, Inventor of GMOs and World Food Prize Laureate, Robb Fraley, will explore the global challenges our world faces and agriculture’s role in overcoming them. Every day farmers battle weeds, insects and disease to bring crops to harvest. By 2050, we will have roughly 10 billion people joining us at the dinner table. Farmers will need access to a broad range of tools to grow enough food to feed our growing world population. Through strong collaboration, investment in STEM education and continued innovation, together we can protect biodiversity and help ensure that everyone has access to a balanced plate.

Dr. Robert Fraley is executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto Company. He has been with Monsanto Company for more than 30 years, and currently oversees the company’s global technology division which includes research discoveries and continuous innovation in plant breeding, plant biotechnology, ag biologicals, ag microbials, precision agriculture and crop protection.

Throughout his career, Dr. Fraley has contributed to years of agricultural development through a number of significant activities, including authoring more than 100 publications and patent applications relating to technical advances in agricultural sciences. Dr. Fraley is recognized as the father of agricultural biotechnology, and has been involved in research on agricultural biotechnology since the early 1980s.

Dr. Fraley has been recognized and honored as both a key contributor to the worldwide scientific and agriculture communities, including routine recognition for the tremendous impact that his discoveries and applications of science have had in supporting farmers and the agriculture demands of our planet.

Dr. Fraley’s honors include: a World Food Prize Laureate (2013), the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton (1998), the National Academy of Sciences Award for the Industrial Application of Science for his work on crop improvement (2008), among other recognitions.

Dr. Fraley’s educational background includes Fellowship from the University of California, San Francisco, a Ph.D in microbiology/biochemistry from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois.

Changes in Culture

Elisabeth Button — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 15:00:55 +0000

Jeffrey Lansdale is the President of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Inc. (ZAMORANO), which is based in Honduras, Central America. Previously he was the Dean of the Graduate School for the Central American Technological University (Unitec | Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana).

Mr. Lansdale has over 30 years of experience in education, working in different sectors. He began his academic career as a Vocational Instructor in the American Farm School (Thessaloniki, Greece), moved on to be a Professor at Zamorano and Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University.Dr. Lansdale has also worked with different programs related to education. He was Project Director for vocational training programs in Thai villages; Coordinator and Senior Technical Advisor of Honduran Peace Scholarships Project with USAID/Honduras, managing a $10 million budget for 4,000 Honduran community leaders; Founder of Environmental Youth Leadership Program, obtaining an initial grant for $450,000 and subsequently raised more than $2 million from different sources such as APSO (Ireland) to support the program.More recently he worked as Chief of Party for the USAID/Honduras post-Hurricane Mitch Reconstruction Projects. He was also Senior Advisor for Policy Reform for the Honduran Ministry of Education, focused on the decentralization of the national education system and the implementation of Education for All, a program sponsored by the donor community to ensure 100% primary school coverage and quality education in Honduras.

Jeffrey Lansdale has a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University, as well as an M.A. in International Management of the School for Training, Vermont, and an M.S. in International Agriculture of California Polytechnic State University. He earned his B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University, California.

A Role Model of Outreach for Nano Education in Taiwan

Elisabeth Button — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 15:00:51 +0000

Dr. Fuh Seng Shieu is currently the President of National Chung-Hsing University located in Taiwan as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NCHU. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. He has been the Dean of College of Engineering, Dean of Office of Research and Development, and Chair of Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NCHU, and the Director of the Division of Material Science and Engineering. He is a member of the Think Tank of Central Government Technology Devolpment, has served as the Director for National Nanotechnology Human Resource Development Program, the President of the Chinese Institute of Engineers at Taichung Charter, and the President of the Taiwan Association for Thin Films and Coating. He was named a Fellow for the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining, and for the Australian Institute of Energy.

An important mission for higher educations is to share their vision and resources to the society. A national program for nanoscience and nanotechnology that consists of academic excellence research, industrial utilization of nanotech, core facility and sharing mechanism, and human resource development, was initiated in Taiwan since 2003. The project goals of the human resource development include promoting life-long learning and popularization of nanotechnology knowledge, upgrading the advanced and professional education of nanotechnology, K-12 education and extension to the general public, along with international exchange and cooperation. By a systematic approach and collaboration with different agencies, they have successfully accomplished their missions. Dr. Fuh-Sheng Shieu will share their experiences of how they implemented nanoscience and nanotechnology education in their country and extended their efforts around the globe. The outcome of this program has made Taiwan one of the leading countries in nano education in the world.

Reducing by Responding: Challenging Agricultural Innovation to Reduce Post Harvest Loss

Elisabeth Button — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:00:14 +0000

Feeding Humanity through Agricultural Innovation

Elisabeth Button — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:00:13 +0000

Dr. Victor Villalobos is the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). A Mexican citizen with 40 years of experience in agriculture, Dr. Villalobos was formerly the Mexican Under Secretary of Agriculture (SAGARPA), Under Secretary of the Environment (SEMARNAP), and Executive Secretary of Mexico’s inter-agency commission on genetically modified organisms (CIBIOGEM).

Strengthening innovation in agriculture is fundamental to driving development in the sector and addressing the great challenges facing humanity. Technology in agriculture is critical to adequately responding to future demands. Traditional technologies must be restored and applied together with new technologies, and new technologies must be developed and adjusted to each region. We must produce more using the same surface area, increase production yields and avoid post-harvest losses.

The Role of Agriculture in Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance

Elisabeth Button — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 16:00:11 +0000

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a salient threat to human health. Among the contributors to the sustained threat of AMR is the utility and management of antibiotics in food-production systems. There is urgent need for an integrated strategy involving human health, agriculture, environment, public education and policy to identify and map practices, stewardship, knowledge, and related gaps in the LAC region. A key outcome required is to analyze risks to human health and economic sustainability and develop informed policies for surveillance, treatment and prevention.