Seven local artists are displaying over 30 thought-provoking paintings in El Batán’s library reading room and outside of the Sasakawa room. This “Expressions” exhibition will run from 22 May until 22 June and is a visual reminder of the library’s recent and evolving revitalization. In addition to improved access to scientific journals and databases and an influx of new materials, the library now provides an internet corner and a cozy room for meetings or language classes. Throughout the year, interactive events such as exhibitions and artist presentations will provide stimulating social opportunities for headquarters staff.

Sharing information about CIMMYT’s work is essential for promotion, public awareness, and internal communication. The CIMMYT Informa and, more recently, the Intranet, have been the main internal communication vehicles for years. But in October 2008 Corporate Communications implemented a CIMMYT blog to share selected information from the Informa with a broader readership, enable fast communication of brief informal news, share communication responsibilities CIMMYT-wide, and make it possible for readers to give feedback. CIMMYTs Blog (blog.cimmyt.org) has registered over 2,500 visits from 114 countries with more than 6,000 page views, and the trend is on an upswing. A Spanish version was launched last week (blogesp.cimmyt.org). We invite CIMMYT staff to contribute directly; contact Petr Kosina or Laura Yates for a simple explanation of how it works. Postings can be made from anywhere, at anytime, and with the greatest of ease!

This month’s e-News takes you to Kenya where CIMMYT is partnering with local organizations to offer maize seed coupons to needy farmers. You will also get to ponder the importance of impact assessment and follow CIMMYT researchers as they compare and contrast a project in Nepal and one here in Mexico. Finally, enjoy the slideshow; it highlights the Ciudad Obregón research station, where two important workshops were held in late March.

CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture (CA) Mexico team is implementing a hub for irrigated systems in Sonora state, northern Mexico. Fundación Produce Sonora is funding the hub project in collaboration with CIMMYT; Patronato (a group of private farmers); the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock (INIFAP); the Asociación de Organismos de Agricultores del Sur de Sonora (AOASS); and Mexico’s national wheat marketer’s organization (CONATRIGO).

“The hub aims to facilitate strategic and adaptive research and combine all elements to achieve impact in the farmers’ fields,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT cropping systems management specialist. There are several on-farm modules for extension and adaptive research, and local private companies produced the CA planters based on the CIMMYT prototype. Also seed and herbicide companies are involved.

The CA team, along with its partners and some private companies, ran a two-week campaign to create awareness about the hub which received good media attention in northern Mexico. A CA field day held 22 April, 2009 and two informal cookouts (one with farmers and one with foremen and tractor drivers in charge of CA demonstration modules) held the previous week were covered by the newspapers Tribuna, El Diario del Yaqui, and two local radio stations. On its front page, Tribuna hailed the Yaqui Valley as a world class example of outstanding organization and collaboration between farmers and research institutions, and highlighted how this teamwork is now being used to support CA technology in the Valley.

The field day was opened by Antonio Gandara, president of Patronato, who said that it is the responsibility of all parties to work together in order to achieve higher quality crops with reduced production costs, and that Patronato is committed to assisting CA efforts. Speaking to the 50 participants of the field day, Govaerts said that the teamwork and dedication displayed by organizations in the Yaqui Valley helped make the Green Revolution possible, and with similar devotion the area could also become a central point for CA. He also emphasized the benefits of CA, such as a 20% reduction in farmers’ costs during the spring which can later translate in up to a 50% profit increase. “This year’s CA modules are performing well, with a yield of 7.9 tons per hectare of wheat harvested during the field day,” Govaerts said. “This is a slightly higher yield compared to the conventional system, but a significant reduction in cost of production.”

Govaerts extends special thanks to Rodrigo Rascon, Obregón station superintendent, the Mexico CA team, and to participating farmers for their support and dedication to CA in Sonora.

Since the middle of 2008 CIMMYT entered in the agreement with Google to scan our publications and make the full text available through Google Books. To date, 255 CIMMYT publications are available through Google Books. For works published as of 2000, Google Books is linked to the CIMMYT publications catalog and users can download complete high resolution pdf files. Among the top 15 visited and downloaded CIMMYT publications are:

• The Genetics and Exploitation of Heterosis in Crops (book of abstracts).
• Developing drought- and low N-tolerant maize (proceedings, Mexico).
• The Septoria .Diseases of Wheat (concepts and methods) – both English and Spanish.
• Guía práctica para la identificación de algunas enfermedades de trigo y cebada.
• Wheat production constraints in tropical environments (proceedings, Thailand).
• Maize research for stress environments (proceedings, Zimbabwe).
• Insectos nocivos del maíz (field guide).
• Estrategias y metodologías utilizadas en el mejoramiento de trigo: un enfoque multidisciplinario (proceedings, Uruguay).
• Explorando Altos Rendimientos de Trigo (proceedings, Uruguay).
• International Symposium on Wheat Yield Potential (proceedings, Mexico).
• Rust Diseases of Wheat.
• Maize in India – Production Systems, Constraints and Research Priorities.
• World Perspectives on Barley Yellow Dwarf (proceedings, Italy).
• Application of Physiology in Wheat Breeding.
• Increasing Yield Potential in Wheat: Breaking the Barriers (proceedings, Mexico).

On 25 March 2009 the Monsanto Company announced a USD 10 million grant to establish the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat through plant breeding techniques.

The program honors the accomplishments of Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr. Norman Borlaug, who pioneered plant breeding and research in rice and wheat, respectively. It will be administered by Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, for the next five years.

“This is a welcome investment by the private sector, in an era of increasing food insecurity and decreasing numbers of graduate students in plant breeding,” said CIMMYT DG Tom Lumpkin. “We hope others will follow suit with additional funding and look forward to hosting scholars funded by the program at our center.” Students interested in applying to the program can find more details at www.monsanto.com/mbbischolars. Applications will be accepted until May 31 2009.

The cereal crop triticale was the focus of a four-day meeting in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora State, Mexico, from 23-26 March. CIMMYT started breeding this wheat-rye hybrid in the 1960s for its durability and strong yield performance in marginal wheat areas. The 7th International Triticale Symposium hosted representatives from over 30 countries, including several from developing countries that had been unable to attend previous triticale symposiums due to lack of funding.

Dr. Perry Gustafson, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) delivered the keynote address, focusing on the history of the crop and giving tribute to the late Bent Skovmand, who was a CIMMYT champion of triticale and helped establish the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. One goal of the conference was to gauge interest and advances in the crop; results will help determine the future of CIMMYT’s triticale program, which is in severe lack of funding. Triticale typically performs as well as or better than wheat and has multiple end uses (food, feed, biofuel), yet it is still largely ignored by the agricultural community.

“One of our strategic mistakes is that we have pushed triticale as human food, and that placed it in a market where it competes at handicap with bread wheat. It does not have the bread-making quality of bread wheat; it does not have the pasta-making quality of durum wheat,” said Karim Ammar (pictured top center), head durum wheat and triticale breeder and executive chair of the organizing committee. “But as feed, it has a competitive advantage, both in terms of cost of production and in terms of quality. This is how I think CIMMYT should promote and encourage people to use triticale.” Ammar added that for developing countries to experience the full benefits of the crop, more emphasis needs to be placed on promotion, technology transfer, and education.