Nearly 10 journalists visited CIMMYT El Batán on 12 August 2009 to learn about the center’s Conservation Agriculture (CA) Program and its partnership with the private company Monsanto. The two are working together to promote CA for highland maize farmers in Mexico. Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT cropping systems management specialist, gave a presentation on CIMMYT and CA followed by a visit to El Batán’s long term CA trials.

“CA is a water-saving technology,” Govaerts told the journalists. “In Mexico, it is relevant now more than ever as the country’s central area is having one of the severest droughts in its history.” The group then traveled to see CA in action on the field of local farmer Fernando Vergara, who is using the core CA principles of minimal soil movement, suitable crop rotations, and leaving crop residues on the soil. This visit corresponded with a farmer CA day already taking place on Vergara’s field. Farmers from different parts of the country were present and several took turns speaking with the media.

Around 20 employees from different departments in El Batán gathered at the auditorium and in La Redonda for a course on agricultural machinery maintenance and safety on 22 June 2009. The instructors, Jesús López Torres, Álvaro García, and Francisco Javier Reyes, were machinery experts from the John Deere company. They presented information on various types of motorized agricultural machinery, ranging from the conventional to more modern machines that can be directed via satellite.

The presenters gave several recommendations to participants to help them avoid accidents: always read the manual, wear a seatbelt, refrain from taking passengers, and do not have children playing in nearby areas. Handle oil and gas with care, staff were told, as spills can make land infertile. Finally, for personal health safety, wear gloves to avoid direct contact with gas or oil hoses, as oil can seep into one’s blood stream from the skin and over time this may cause cancer. In general, the instructors stressed that machine operators should know and practice security measures and wear protective equipment. After the theoretical component of the course, the group went to the field and put some of the new principals into practice.

How can CIMMYT better manage its project portfolio, identify fundraising needs and opportunities, and remove part of the burden for proposal development and project reporting from its scientists, freeing them up for their research? During 22-23 July 2009, Luz George (consultant), Scott Ferguson (deputy director general for Support Services), Carlos López (IT manager), and program administrators, including special guests Sarah Kibera (program administrator) from CIMMYT-Nairobi and Kimani Kamau (DTMA administrator), met at El Batán with staff from Human Resources, Finance, Legal Affairs, Corporate Communications, and program directors and scientists to seek answers.

Over the two days of presentations and discussions, including presentations of the CIMMYT-Nairobi and Generation Challenge Program project management systems, participants concluded that CIMMYT needs a Project Management Unit (PMU), and discussed the responsibilities and priorities of the new unit. Similar units at sister centers were discussed as potential models. In tabulating CIMMYT’s needs, participants decided better information was a core requirement, and concluded that a combination of clear procedures, an online database to track projects through their life cycle, and a more general internet-accessible portal would meet this requirement.

The conclusions of the workshop will be presented to CIMMYT’s Management Committee at its next session. The serious business of the workshop was punctuated by a relaxed evening which participants spent together at the Rincón Mexicano, eating the Mexican delicacy Chiles en Nogada and listening to the superb musical duo of Marcelo Pérez and Mike Listman.

To get a ground-level idea of how Monsanto support for a CIMMYT-led effort to refine and promote conservation agriculture (CA) in Mexico benefits farmers, Monsanto staff joined staff from project co sponsor Asgrow, a Monsanto subsidiary in Mexico, for a visit to El Batán and CA project satellite sites on 17 July 2009.

“Sustainability is part of the Monsanto pledge,” said Manuel J. Bravo, Latin America Norte (LAN), strategy and new business lead for the company. “This project is a clear example of that.” The group chatted with DG Tom Lumpkin and also attended a demonstration of a GoogleEarth-based database for project sites in Central Mexico. The field visits elicited strong enthusiasm. “It was impressive to see the farmers when they have a chance to compare the two systems (CA and conventional practices),” said Bryan Corkal, Monsanto LAN finance lead.

How did the group view the chances for successful adoption of CA in Mexico? “It’s just a question of time,” said Bravo. “The product is there—the system, the savings— we just need to find efficient ways to disseminate the practices to more people in less time.” According to Corkal, a lot depends on farmers’ culture: “It was interesting to see young farmers in the presentations; they’re the ones who are going to adopt the new practices.”

Last week, nearly 90 students from all around the world visited El Batán to learn about CIMMYT’s research and mission. They were all members of the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS) which is having its World Congress in Mexico. At CIMMYT, participants viewed the germplasm bank, learned about wide crosses and diversity analysis work at the Applied Biotechnology Center, and visited conservation agriculture experiments in the field.

IAAS provides a platform for students to share experiences, knowledge, and social responsibility. The students, who are from more than 20 countries, will spend three weeks visiting Mexico City, Queretaro, and Jalisco exploring  this year’s theme: “Biodiversity now, food tomorrow.”

About 17 people from the American Confederation of Associations in Sustainable Agriculture (CAAPAS, by its Portuguese acronym) visited El Batán on 23 July 2009. The group visited CIMMYT as part of their international meeting on direct seeding and sustainable agriculture.

Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program, officially welcomed CAAPAS to the center. Ken Sayre, conservation agriculture (CA) specialist, then spoke to participants about CIMMYT’s CA program. He was followed by Petr Kosina, knowledge, information, and training manager, who informed them about the center’s origins, mission, and research focus. As well, Bram Govaerts, cropping systems management specialist, showed the group CIMMYT’s long-term CA trials in the field.

“It was a good opportunity to meet some new people interested in conservation agriculture,” said Sayre. “CIMMYT may work with a group like this in the future if there is money to support such collaboration.” After the morning’s presentations, there was a lively debate on the definition of CA and CA practices in different areas.

Ivo Mello, CAAPAS president, spoke about ‘quality zero-tillage.’ “We have to do what is necessary to respect the soil, conserve microorganisms and worms, etc., that aid crop production,” he said. “We must eliminate the use of chemicals and strive for soils with biological equilibrium, which is not going again nature.”

As part of the conservation agriculture (CA) hub initiative in the central Mexican highlands, 15 technicians who supervise CA demonstration modules met at CIMMYT-El Batán on 06 July 2009. CIMMYT has been partnering with ASGROW (a Monsanto seed company) to implement CA for highland maize cropping systems in this area for a little over a year. The module technicians, who are all also ASGROW representatives, each summarized their experiences with the recently planted CA demonstration areas.

“Each module is different,” said Bram Govaerts, cropping systems management specialist. “It’s a dynamic learning process for us and for the farmers as we work together to find out what works. This is the concept of the hub: to have our long-term trials as a training platform, to install modules with farmers in order to adapt CA to their systems, and to invite different partners to join us in disseminating CA.”

“I wanted to try something new to improve my products and yields,” said Alejandro Gómez Cornejo, a particularly motivated farmer who attended the event and has participated in previous tours of CIMMYT’s experimental station in Toluca. “I became interested when I saw the quality of the products they were getting and bit by bit I began implementing CA. The first year was difficult but we’ve been getting better bit by bit.”

It is farmers like Cornejo that some of the technician participants want to help. “As an agronomist, I want to improve rural areas that have low crop yields and subsistence problems,” said technician Arturo González Capistrán.

The day also included an information session on a Googleearth CA hub database. This tool will soon show all the farmer CA modules as well as information such as soil, altitude, latitude, previous cropping season results, socio-economic data, etc. “The database enables a steady flow of information between our technicians, partners, and farmers and is another way to disseminate CA,” said Govaerts.

CIMMYT staff at all levels increasingly need to describe and explain center objectives, activities, and accomplishments to a broad public that includes students, scientific colleagues, decision makers, donors, and the media, among others. It may seem simple, but such communication requires considerable knowledge of the center and its global and local contexts, as well as sensitivity about the audience and skill in crafting and presenting messages.

To help personnel frequently called upon to interact with the media in Mexico, CIMMYT held a four-hour media training workshop at El Batán on 09 July 2009. Organized by Karen García, head of communications of AgroBIO-México, and Mike Listman, the event was conducted in Spanish by communications expert Alejandro Romero of the Mexican public relations firm Llorente & Cuenca. After a detailed, theoretical presentation and discussion, participants Victor Chávez and Bibiana Espinosa, research assistants who frequently show visitors the germplasm bank, as well as Bram Govaerts and Kevin Pixley, took part in individual, simulated television interviews that were filmed and subsequently critiqued by Romero and the group. All received advice and specific techniques on how to stay on message, to steer interviews in the desired direction, and to deal with leading questions and sensitive issues, like genetically modified maize in Mexico.

The workshop is just a beginning, and highlighted the need to formulate concise, effective messages on key topics and, especially, for more practice in handling interviews. “You always have to remember that you’re representing an organization, and not your personal views,” Romero told the group. Other CIMMYT participants on this occasion were Nele Verhulst, Andrea Chocobar Guerra, Susanne Dreisigacker, Natalia Palacios, George Mahuku, Claudia Bedoya, Laura Yates, and Allison Gillies. Special thanks to AgroBIO-México, which put on the event free-of-charge.

Raymundo López, Agua Fría station superintendent, facilitated training for 13 farmers from the small communities of Hixtololoyax and Pantepec, in the state of Puebla on 25 June 2009. The farmers learned about developing, disseminating, and sowing quality protein maize (QPM). They also learned about intersynthetic and synthetic maize varieties that are tolerant to drought, low nitrogen, pests, and disease. Lastly, the course dealt with proper application of agro-chemicals.

The training was part of a longterm initiative organized by the state government to improve maize yields in the poorest part of Puebla. CIMMYT is interacting with farmers in these small mountain  communities to teach them about the production of improved maize varieties. With the new skills learned from the course, farmers can experiment in their respective communities under local conditions.

It’s that time of year again. Some CIMMYT staff are preparing their international wheat trials, which is the seed the center sends to its partners around the world. A 42-ton shipment of wheat seed arrived at El Batán on 29 June 2009 from a multiplication area in Baja California, northern Mexico. This seed will make up the winter nursery for 2009-10. This year’s consignment also contained materials for the wheat germplasm bank, and was twice as big as last year’s shipment.

Unloading the 261 boxes and 2,700 bags of seed from the truck was no small task. A huge thank you to all who participated from the following units: international wheat trials (11); bread wheat (4); durum wheat (3); germplasm bank (3); physiology (2); fusarium (2), and irrigated bread wheat (2).