Location: Mexico

Back from the brink of extinction

Written by Emma Orchardson on September 13, 2019. Posted in Features. 2 Comments on Back from the brink of extinction

In the early 20^th century, Aaron Aaronsohn, a prominent agronomist best known for identifying the progenitor of wheat, began looking for durum wheat landraces in Israel. He traveled to villages across the country, carefully collecting and recording details of the local varieties used in each area.

This task was not without purpose. Aaronsohn recognized that as increasing numbers of settlers like himself came to the territory, the varietal change from the introduction of new and competitive wheat varieties and the rapid intensification of agriculture would soon cause all the traditional structures he had identified to disappear.

IPLR durum wheat landrace, Rishon LeZion, Israel. (Photo: Matan Franko/ARO-Volcani Center)

Aaronsohn was one of the first to begin collecting germplasm in the region, but others saw the importance of collecting before large-scale change occurred. For example, Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov gathered samples from Israel on one of his expeditions through the Middle East. By the end of the century, a number of collections had been established, but overall efforts at conservation were fragmented.

“That’s why we say the collection was on the verge of extinction,” explains Roi Ben-David, a researcher at the Volcani Center, Israel’s Agricultural Research Institute (ARO). “There were single accessions in genebanks around the world but no one really gave them special treatment or saw their value. Many were in private collections; others were simply lost.”

When Ben-David and his colleagues began looking for landraces six years ago, even the collection housed at the Israeli Genebank (IGB) was disappointing, with many samples stored in unmarked boxes in sub-optimal conditions. “When we came in nobody was really trying to study what we had and put it together to represent the area’s wheat landscape as it was 100 years ago.”

Long-term efforts to restore and conserve a collection of Israeli and Palestinian wheat landraces (IPLR) have led to the restoration of 930 lines so far, but there are many varieties that cannot be recovered. Therefore, it came as a great surprise to Ben-David when he arrived at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) headquarters in Mexico and stumbled upon one of the collections presumed lost. “I think it was actually my first week at CIMMYT when I spotted a demonstration plot growing one of the lost varieties — a subset of the Ephrat-Blum collection — and I couldn’t believe it.”

He had heard about this collection from the late Abraham Blum, but had never been able to locate it. “Someone might have moved the seeds, or maybe the box was not well labelled and thrown out. We don’t know, but needless to say it was a very good surprise to rediscover 64 of our missing lines.”

What prompted you and your colleagues to start looking for landraces in Israel?

We began because we recognized local landraces are good genetic resources but unfortunately, we couldn’t find any. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t exist, but the accessions were scattered across the world, mostly in private collections in countries like the USA or Australia. The Israeli Genebank, which sits only two floors above my office, had a few buckets of germplasm but nobody really knew what was inside.

The Middle East and the Fertile Crescent are centers of diversity, not only for wheat but for all crops that were part of the Neolithic revolution 10,000 years ago. They started here – the exact point of origin was probably in what is now southeast Turkey – so we have had thousands of years of evolution in which those landraces dominated the agricultural landscape and adapted to different environments.

Why do you think so much of the collection was lost?

The lines from Israel were lost because their conservation simply wasn’t prioritized. Losses happen everywhere but what was missing in this case was the urgency and understanding of just how important these collections are. Luckily, the current manager of the IGB, who is a fundamental partner in building the IPLR, understood the need to prioritize this and allocated a budget to conserve it as one collection.

What is the value of conserving landraces and why should it be prioritized?

Landraces are an extremely important genetic resource. Wild relatives are the biggest treasure, but breeders are usually reluctant to use them because they are so very different from modern varieties. So landraces form the link between these two, having already been domesticated and developed within farming systems while remaining genetically distinct from the modern. In wheat, they’re quite easy to spot because of how tall they are compared to the semi-dwarf varieties that replaced them in the 20^th century.

There are two main reasons why we need to prioritize conservation. First, we believe that the evolution under domestication in this region is important to the community as a whole. Second, it is now a critical time, as we’re getting further from the time in which those traditional lines were in use. The last collection was carried out in the 1980s, when people were still able to collect authentic landraces from farmers but this is just not possible any more. We travelled all over the country but the samples we collected were not authentic – most were modern varieties that farmers thought were traditional. Not everybody knows exactly what they’re growing.

The time factor is critical. If we were to wake up 50 years from now and decide that it’s important to start looking for landraces, I don’t know how much we could actually save.

Plant height variability among IPLR wheat landraces, Rishon LeZion, Israel. (Photo: Matan Franko/ARO-Volcani Center)

Are there any farmers still growing landraces in Israel?

When we started looking for farmers who are still growing landraces we only found one farm. It is quite small – only about ten acres shared between two brothers. They grow a variety which is typically used to make a traditional food called kube, a kind of meat ball covered in flour and then then either fried or boiled. If you boil it using regular flour it falls apart, so people prefer to use a landrace variety, which is what the brothers grow and are able to sell for up to six times as much as regular durum wheat in the market. However, they’re not really interested in getting rich; they’re just trying to keep their traditions alive.

How are you and your colleagues working to conserve the existing collection?

There are two approaches. We want to develop is ex-situ conservations to preserve the diversity. As landraces are not always easy to conserve in a genebank, we also want to support in-situ conservation in the field, like traditional farmers have done. Together with the IGB we’ve distributed seed to botanical gardens and other actors in the hope that at least some of them will propagate it in their fields.

Having established the collection, we’re also trying to utilize it for research and breeding as much as possible. So far we’ve characterized it genetically, tested for drought tolerance and other agronomic traits and we’re in talks to start testing the quality profile of the lines.

Did you continue working on this while you were based at CIMMYT?

Yes, this was an additional project I brought with me during my sabbatical. The main success was working with Carolina Sansaloni and the team at the Genetic Resources program to carry out the genotyping. If it were left to my own resources, I don’t think we could have done it as the collection contains 930 plant genotypes and we only had the budget to do 90.

Luckily, CIMMYT also has an interest in the material so we could collaborate. We brought the material, CIMMYT provided technical support and we were able to genotype it all, which is a huge boost for the project. We had already been measuring phenotypes in Israel, but now that we have all the genetic data as well we can study the collection more deeply and start looking for specific genes of interest.

What will happen to the lines you discovered at CIMMYT?

They’ve been sent back to Israel to be reintegrated into the collection. I want to continue collaborating with people in CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources program and genebank to do some comparative genomics and assess how much diversity we have in the IPLR collection compared with what CIMMYT has. Is there any additional genetic diversity? How does it compare to other landraces collections? That is what we want to find out next.

Roi Ben-David is based at Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO). He works in the Plant Institute, where his lab focuses on breeding winter cereals such as wheat. He has recently completed a one-year sabbatical placement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

CIMMYT’s germplasm banks contain the largest and most diverse collections of maize and wheat in the world. Improved and conserved seed is available to any research institution worldwide.

Maximino Alcalá de Stefano working at CIMMYT's wheat international nurseries. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Remembering Max Alcalá, who led CIMMYT’s wheat international nurseries

Written by Mike Listman on August 29, 2019. Posted in News.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sadly notes the passing of Maximino Alcalá de Stefano, former head of the center’s Wheat International Nurseries service, on August 27. He was 80 years old.

Fondly known as “Max” by friends and colleagues, Alcalá worked at CIMMYT from 1967 to 1992, coordinating wheat international nurseries during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The job included organizing nursery shipments to over 100 partners worldwide each year and collating, analyzing, and sharing results from the nurseries grown.

Maximino Alcalá de Stefano passed away at the age of 80 in Houston, Texas, USA. (Photo: Alcalá family)

The printed international nursery report featured an introductory section that described the nurseries, the locations, the statistical analyses used, and an overview of the performance of the breeding lines tested, which comprised the best CIMMYT materials but also germplasm from other sources. The report also carried tables with full data from each location as well as summary tables.

“Max was instrumental in preparing and distributing the printed nursery results, now made available online but which continue to provide crucial input for breeding by CIMMYT and partners,” said Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program. “He also helped start the international nursery database.”

A native of Mexico, Alcalá completed a bachelor’s in Science at the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro in 1964 and a master’s at Texas A&M University in 1967. Alcalá pursued doctoral studies in wheat breeding at Oregon State University under the guidance of renowned OSU researcher Warren E. Kronstad, finishing in 1974.

Maximino Alcalá de Stefano (second from right) worked closely with Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug (third from left). In the photo, a group of CIMMYT Scientists during a visit to Nepal in 1978. (Photo: CIMMYT)

His professional experience prior to CIMMYT included appointments at Mexico’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) and in the national extension services.

Later in his career, Alcalá supported wheat training at CIMMYT and helped coordinate visitors services at CIMMYT’s experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Sonora state.

The CIMMYT community sends its deepest sympathies and wishes for peace to the Alcalá family.

View from the experimental station in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT)

Warmer night temperatures reduce wheat yields in Mexico, scientists say

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on August 8, 2019. Posted in Features.

As many regions worldwide baked under some of the most persistent heatwaves on record, scientists at a major conference in Canada shared data on the impact of spiraling temperatures on wheat.

In the Sonora desert in northwestern Mexico, nighttime temperatures varied 4.4 degrees Celsius between 1981 and 2018, research from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) shows. Across the world in Siberia, nighttime temperatures rose 2 degrees Celsius between 1988 and 2015, according to Vladimir Shamanin, a professor at Russia’s Omsk State Agrarian University who conducts research with the Kazakhstan-Siberia Network on Spring Wheat Improvement.

“Although field trials across some of the hottest wheat growing environments worldwide have demonstrated that yield losses are in general associated with an increase in average temperatures, minimum temperatures at night — not maximum temperatures — are actually determining the yield loss,” said Gemma Molero, the wheat physiologist at CIMMYT who conducted the research in Sonora, in collaboration with colleague Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio.

“Of the water taken up by the roots, 95% is lost from leaves via transpiration and from this, an average of 12% of the water is lost during the night. One focus of genetic improvement for yield and water-use efficiency for the plant should be to identify traits for adaptation to higher night temperatures,” Molero said, adding that nocturnal transpiration may lead to reductions of up to 50% of available soil moisture in some regions.

Wheat fields at CIMMYT's experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT) — Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT)

Climate challenge

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in October that temperatures may become an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer in the next 11 years. A new IPCC analysis on climate change and land use due for release this week, urges a shift toward reducing meat in diets to help reduce agriculture-related emissions from livestock. Diets could be built around coarse grains, pulses, nuts and seeds instead.

Scientists attending the International Wheat Congress in Saskatoon, the city at the heart of Canada’s western wheat growing province of Saskatchewan, agreed that a major challenge is to develop more nutritious wheat varieties that can produce bigger yields in hotter temperatures.

CIMMYT wheat physiologist Gemma Molero presents at the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Marcia MacNeil/CIMMYT)

As a staple crop, wheat provides 20% of all human calories consumed worldwide. It is the main source of protein for 2.5 billion people in the Global South. Crop system modeler Senthold Asseng, a professor at the University of Florida and a member of the International Wheat Yield Partnership, was involved in an extensive study in China, India, France, Russia and the United States, which demonstrated that for each degree Celsius in temperature increase, yields decline by 6%, putting food security at risk.

Wheat yields in South Asia could be cut in half due to chronically high temperatures, Molero said. Research conducted by the University of New South Wales, published in Environmental Research Letters also demonstrates that changes in climate accounted for 20 to 49% of yield fluctuations in various crops, including spring wheat. Hot and cold temperature extremes, drought and heavy precipitation accounted for 18 to 4% of the variations.

At CIMMYT, wheat breeders advocate a comprehensive approach that combines conventional, physiological and molecular breeding techniques, as well as good crop management practices that can ameliorate heat shocks. New breeding technologies are making use of wheat landraces and wild grass relatives to add stress adaptive traits into modern wheat – innovative approaches that have led to new heat tolerant varieties being grown by farmers in warmer regions of Pakistan, for example.

More than 800 global experts gathered at the first International Wheat Congress in Saskatoon, Canada, to strategize on ways to meet projected nutritional needs of 60% more people by 2050. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University)

Collaborative effort

Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist at CIMMYT, is joint founder of the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), a coalition of hundreds of scientists and stakeholders from over 30 countries.

“HeDWIC is a pre-breeding program that aims to deliver genetically diverse advanced lines through use of shared germplasm and other technologies,” Reynolds said in Saskatoon. “It’s a knowledge-sharing and training mechanism, and a platform to deliver proofs of concept related to new technologies for adapting wheat to a range of heat and drought stress profiles.”

Aims include reaching agreement across borders and institutions on the most promising research areas to achieve climate resilience, arranging trait research into a rational framework, facilitating translational research and developing a bioinformatics cyber-infrastructure, he said, adding that attracting multi-year funding for international collaborations remains a challenge.

Nitrogen traits

Another area of climate research at CIMMYT involves the development of an affordable alternative to the use of nitrogen fertilizers to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. In certain plants, a trait known as biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) allows them to suppress the loss of nitrogen from the soil, improving the efficiency of nitrogen uptake and use by themselves and other plants.

CIMMYT's director general Martin Kropff speaks at a session of the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University) — CIMMYT’s director general Martin Kropff speaks at a session of the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University)

Scientists with the BNI research consortium, which includes Japan’s International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), propose transferring the BNI trait from those plants to critical food and feed crops, such as wheat, sorghum and Brachiaria range grasses.

“Every year, nearly a fifth of the world’s fertilizer is used to grow wheat, yet the crop only uses about 30% of the nitrogen applied, in terms of biomass and harvested grains,” said Victor Kommerell, program manager for the multi-partner CGIAR Research Programs (CRP) on Wheat and Maize led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

“BNI has the potential to turn wheat into a highly nitrogen-efficient crop: farmers could save money on fertilizers, and nitrous oxide emissions from wheat farming could be reduced by 30%.”

Excluding changes in land use such as deforestation, annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture each year are equivalent to 11% of all emissions from human activities. About 70% of nitrogen applied to crops in fertilizers is either washed away or becomes nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to Guntur Subbarao, a principal scientist with JIRCAS.

Hans-Joachim Braun,
Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, speaks at the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Marcia MacNeil/CIMMYT)

Although ruminant livestock are responsible for generating roughly half of all agricultural production emissions, BNI offers potential for reducing overall emissions, said Tim Searchinger, senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and technical director of a new report titled “Creating a Sustainable Food Future: A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050.”

To exploit this roots-based characteristic, breeders would have to breed this trait into plants, said Searchinger, who presented key findings of the report in Saskatoon, adding that governments and research agencies should increase research funding.

Other climate change mitigation efforts must include revitalizing degraded soils, which affect about a quarter of the planet’s cropland, to help boost crop yields. Conservation agriculture techniques involve retaining crop residues on fields instead of burning and clearing. Direct seeding into soil-with-residue and agroforestry also can play a key role.

‘Truly novel’: ProMaíz Nativo creates on-pack logo for native Mexican corn

Written by Mary Donovan on August 5, 2019. Posted in In the media.

Newly formed, non-profit ProMaíz Nativo will promote Mexico’s native corn biodiversity with a front-of-pack logo to help consumers choose sustainably-grown, heirloom varieties. Read more here.

Members of the association pose with CIMMYT staff that helped facilitate the creation of the group. (Photo: ProMaíz Nativo)

New association formed to support smallholder native maize farmers in Mexico

Written by Jennifer Johnson on July 8, 2019. Posted in Features. 3 Comments on New association formed to support smallholder native maize farmers in Mexico

Expert Mexican scientists and farmer cooperatives have formed a non-profit organization to support small-scale landrace maize farmers who continue to conserve and plant seeds of their own native heirloom varieties. The civil association, known as ProMaíz Nativo, intends to work collaboratively on projects to improve the lives of native maize and milpa farm families. Group members include national and internationally recognized maize experts, ethnobotanists, socioeconomists, food and nutrition scientists, marketing experts, maize farmers and farmer groups.

The civil association has also created a collective trademark, Milpaiz, which can be used by farmers to demonstrate the authenticity of the native maize varieties they grow and sell. This trademark will certify that a farmer’s maize is native to their community and derived from their continuous selection of seed. It will also certify that it is grown by small farmers and that they are selling only the surplus of their crops after feeding their own family. The trademark will also make a transparent effort to connect these farmers to a culinary market which values the quality, rarity and history of their production.

“Mexico is the center of origin of maize, and home to much of its genetic diversity. This initiative will allow us to certify that products are truly landrace maize from smallholder farmers, so that the benefits reach the smallholder farmers that have provided us with this biodiversity,” said Flavio Aragón, a genetic resources researcher with Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP).

Members of the association gather for a photo at the launch event. (Photo: ProMaíz Nativo)

Researchers like Aragon, members of farmer groups and local chefs attended the official launch of ProMaíz Nativo on June 14, 2019, at the World Trade Center in Mexico City, during restaurant trade fair ExpoRestaurantes.

Edelmira Linares, ethnobotanist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and member of the association, emphasized that the collective trademark Milpaiz covers all crops grown in the traditional milpa intercrop farming system in Mexico: maize, beans, squash, edible greens, amaranth, pumpkin seeds, and certain vegetables.

“The trademark will make it easier for income to reach the farmers, will allow smallholder farmers to sell their products in supermarkets and to have a legal presence,” said Amanda Galvez, a food chemist at UNAM and president of ProMaíz Nativo.

Traditional milpa products: native maize, beans, squash, chilies and other local fruits and vegetables. (Photo: Martha Willcox/CIMMYT)

Fair and sustainable market growth

Many smallholder farmers continue to plant the same native maize varieties that their parents and grandparents planted, developed in their villages and regions and improved by farmer selection dating back to their ancestors. These varieties are prized by their local communities for their unique flavors, colors, texture and use in special dishes — and the global culinary community is catching on. Native maize, or landraces, have become extremely popular with chefs and consumers in the past few years, drawing attention and imports from across the world. However, increased demand can mean increased vulnerability for farmers.

Many maize experts in Mexico were concerned with how to best support and protect smallholder farmers navigating this increase in demand. Without guidelines and transparency, it is difficult to ensure that farmers are being fairly compensated for their traditional maize, or that they are able to save enough to feed their own families.

In a discerning culinary market, a symbol of certification such as the collective trademark could serve to differentiate the families who have long been the guardians of these native varieties from larger commercial farmers who acquire these heirloom seeds. But there was no pre-existing space for these guidelines to be determined and developed.

Martha Willcox (left) with farmers and their milpa products in Santa María Yavesía, Oaxaca state, México. (Photo: Arturo Silva/CIMMYT)

“There is a depth of expertise on maize in Mexico, but these experts all work at different institutions, making it more difficult for all of them to collaborate on a project like this,” said Martha Willcox, landrace improvement coordinator at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“The formation of this civil association is truly novel in the history of native maize in Mexico, and its strength comes from the expertise of its members, made up entirely of Mexican scientists and Mexican farmer co-ops,” Willcox explained.

She initiated and facilitated the formation of this group of scientists and continues to work closely with them as an advisor. “This association will help provide a space and network where these experts can work together and speak in one voice to support maize and maize farmers.”

CIMMYT does not have a seat in the association but has played a key role in its facilitation and has provided funding to cover logistics and fees related to the formation of the organization, through the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) has also participated in the logistics and facilitation of the formation of the organization.

Experimental stations in Mexico improve global agriculture

Written by Carolyn Cowan on July 1, 2019. Posted in Videos.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) operates five agricultural experiment stations in Mexico. Strategically located across the country to take advantage of different growing conditions — spanning arid northern plains to sub-tropical and temperate climatic zones — the stations offer unique and well-managed testing conditions for a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses.

Heat and drought tolerance in wheat is the focus of study at Ciudad Obregón, while the humid, cool conditions at Toluca are ideal for studying wheat resistance to foliar diseases. The tropical and sub-tropical settings of Agua Fría and Tlaltizapán respectively are suited to maize field trials, while at El Batán researchers carry out a wide variety of maize and wheat trials.

A new video highlights the important and valuable contribution of the five experimental stations in Mexico to CIMMYT’s goal of developing maize and wheat that can cope with demanding environments around the world, helping smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to challenges like climate change, emerging pests and disease, and malnutrition.

Featuring aerial cinematography and interviews with each station’s manager, the video takes viewers on a journey to each experimental station to highlight the research and management practices specific to each location.

In addition to their role in breeding maize and wheat varieties, CIMMYT’s experimental stations host educational events throughout the year that train the next generation of farmers, policymakers and crop scientists. They also provide the canvas on which CIMMYT scientists develop and test farming practices and technologies to help farmers grow more with less.

Some of the stations also hold historical significance. Ciudad Obregón and Toluca are two of the sites where Norman Borlaug set up his shuttle breeding program that provided the foundations of the Green Revolution. It was also in Toluca, while at a trial plot alongside six young scientists from four developing nations, where Borlaug first received news of his 1970 Nobel Peace Prize award.

Honoring the life and legacy of Fred Palmer

Written by Mike Listman on June 27, 2019. Posted in News.

Fred Palmer, former CIMMYT maize agronomist, in his office at Egerton University, Kenya, in 1994.

With sorrow we report the passing on June 14 of Anthony F. E. (Fred) Palmer, former maize agronomist and physiologist who contributed notably to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) networking and capacity building during crucial periods.

A British national, Palmer joined CIMMYT as a post-doctoral fellow in 1968 and retired from the center in 1996. With undergraduate studies in Agronomy at the University of Reading, Palmer completed masters and doctoral degrees in Crop Physiology at Cornell University. His early years at CIMMYT headquarters included work in maize physiology, agronomy and training.

In 1972 Palmer moved to Pakistan, serving as a production agronomist in that key Green Revolution setting until 1978, when he returned to Mexico as a training officer. “Fred was a true gentleman as a researcher and trainer,” said Stephen Waddington, retired CIMMYT maize agronomist who worked with Fred in Africa. “He was a mentor and friend to many junior CIMMYT staff, including myself, and countless trainees and visiting scientists from partner countries.”

Capitalizing on his experience and accomplishments, in 1985 CIMMYT posted Palmer to Nairobi, Kenya, as the team leader of the East African Cereal Project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). During the project’s third phase, Palmer helped to establish and guide an entry-level crop management training program, in conjunction with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Egerton University, targeting maize researchers from eastern and southern Africa. Based at the university’s Njoro campus, the effort included construction of training facilities and guest rooms and Palmer successfully prepared Egerton administrators and faculty to take over the program, according to Joel Ransom, a North Dakota State University professor who served as a CIMMYT maize agronomist in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

“Scores of young agronomists mastered the fundamentals of on-farm research through that program,” Ransom said. “Palmer’s mentoring, training, and leadership greatly advanced the professional development of African maize and wheat scientists.”

Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and wheat physiologist, recalls talking to Palmer about the latter’s efforts to apply fledgling tools for measuring photosynthesis in the field, a topic in which he had specialized at Cornell. “Fred was a very kind and unassuming man who treated everyone with respect, qualities that made him a great training officer and a well-regarded colleague,” said Reynolds.

Palmer firmly believed that national partners needed the capacity to train staff, particularly those fresh out of university studies, strengthening both their knowledge and professional linkages.

“By bringing young scientists together and working with them as a multidisciplinary research team,” Palmer wrote in a report on CIMMYT training in eastern and southern Africa, “it is anticipated that these scientists will learn to value each other’s work as essential to successful research.”

The CIMMYT community sends its warmest condolences to the Palmer family.

Top shelf: Who has access to the healthiest processed foods?

Written by Emma Orchardson on June 11, 2019. Posted in Features.

In 2013, Mexico had the fourth highest sales of ultra-processed products worldwide. This is indicative of one of the most important changes in food systems in middle-income countries in recent years: the shift away from meals prepared at home with fresh or minimally processed products towards meals that include ultra-processed foods.

“Typically, these products do not have any wholefood ingredient, are ready to eat, and are high in fat, sodium and sugar but low in fiber, protein and vitamins,” says Ana Gaxiola, a nutritionist consultant working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “The health risks associated with their consumption have important, long-term implications for the health and nutritional status of individuals, families and communities.”

Latin America has a sophisticated maize and wheat processing sector with the potential to segment urban markets according to income, preferences and knowledge. This has important implications for equity in access to food with higher nutritional value.

In 2018, CIMMYT researchers began a new investigative project in collaboration with two CGIAR research programs, Agriculture for Health and Nutrition (A4NH) and WHEAT, seeking to understand how affordability affects diets in different areas of Mexico City. “We want to better understand access to healthier maize- and wheat-based foods across differences in purchasing power,” explains CIMMYT senior economist Jason Donovan. “Part of that involves looking at what processed products are available at what price and in different neighborhoods and the dietary implications of that.”

A researcher captures nutritional information from a packet of tortillas. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

This is relatively new territory for those involved. “This kind of research has been done before,” explains Gaxiola, “but only looking at supermarkets in Mexico City and without differentiating between socioeconomic levels.” Previous studies have also failed to include data from abarrotes, the small convenience stores ubiquitous throughout the city.

The study compares Polanco and San Vicente, two neighborhoods in Mexico City chosen to represent high- and low-income areas, respectively. Using economic data in combination with label and packaging information it analyzes the variation in availability of processed and ultra-processed maize and wheat products, taking into account ingredients, nutritional content, portion size, price and other added value. The study will later include a qualitative element, in which the team will conduct interviews with shop managers to find out how they decide which products to stock, and with consumers to discuss the products they buy and the factors influencing their decisions.

“We’re also interested in how the products are being promoted,” says Miriam Perez Luna, a CIMMYT research assistant involved in the study. “Do companies employ celebrity endorsements or cartoons to appeal to children? Do they have any special certifications based on where or how the products were produced? This information goes into our database so we can examine how products are being marketed, whether in stores or online and through social media.”

In a small food shop in San Vicente, a low-income area, snacks high in salt and sugar line the shelves. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Now at the end of the data collection period, Gaxiola and a team of researchers have collected more than 20,000 images of packaging, bar codes and nutritional information for a variety of products including biscuits, breads, cakes, cereals, flours, pastas, soups and tortillas. Once the data has been cleaned, they will begin to analyze each individual product and create an index for how healthy they are. Preliminary results from the study will be made available later in the year, but the team are keen to share some of their initial observations.

They were unsurprised to note that many products were more expensive in the upscale Polanco neighborhood, and smaller convenience stores tended to charge more for certain products than larger supermarkets.

There have however, been some unexpected findings. For example, many of the discussions about lack of access to nutritious food options focus on the diets of the urban poor, but there may be reason to believe that affluent consumers face similar challenges. “You’ll be surprised to hear that a lot of what we found in Polanco was not that healthy, because most of it is heavily processed,” says Gaxiola.

Based on the Pan-American Health Organization’s classification system, a product containing more than one milligram of sodium per calorie, 10% refined sugar and 30% total fat is an unhealthy one. “We still need to carry out the analysis, but I’d say more than 70% of the products we’ve encountered could be deemed unhealthy, based on this classification system.”

In a small supermarket in San Vicente, the research team found nearly 50 different types of biscuits and around 80 savory maize-based snacks like chips and tortillas. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

The implications of this are significant for a country like Mexico, which currently faces an epidemic of obesity and overweight. “There’s a lot of advocacy now around nutritional information, but it can be hard to understand sometimes, even for me,” says Gaxiola. “It has to be become something that everyone can understand and use to make healthier choices.”

For this to happen it is important to close the data gap on how urban consumers interact with their food environments. Understanding how they choose among different types of maize- and wheat-based products and how much of this is shaped by socioeconomic disparities is a key first step towards engaging with the private and public sectors on options for promoting healthier processed wheat and maize products in fast-evolving food systems.

This study is being carried out by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT).

This story is part of our coverage of the EAT Stockholm Food Forum 2019.
See other stories and the details of the side event in which CIMMYT is participating.

Participants in the scaling workshop stand for a group photo with the trainers. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Scaling farming innovations: what, why and how

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on June 10, 2019. Posted in News.

How to scale up agricultural innovation in a sustainable and responsible manner? Through a workshop from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a group from Mexico’s state of Chiapas learnt the basic principles of scaling. This knowledge will allow them to design and implement strategies that live well beyond the end of a project and that take into account the systems in which they operate.

Through presentations, group exercises and discussions, 23 people associated with the MasAgro project in Chiapas — technical advisors, coordinators and collaborators — received training on scaling sustainable and responsible agricultural innovations.

The scaling process is relevant because oftentimes the size of a problem does not match the size of its solutions. To support scaling efforts, all relevant actors and entities must subscribe to a paradigm shift to achieve a positive sustainable impact for the greatest number of people.

Executing innovations in scaling requires a paradigm shift in all relevant actors and entities involved in order to achieve positive, sustainable impact that reaches the greatest number of people.

The workshop was divided into three sections. The first section was focused on basic concepts and the definition of realistic and responsible scaling goals. In the second, the group discovered the “Scaling Scan” tool. The third section was focused on the identification of opportunities and potential actions at the project level and through strategic collaborations.

The workshop “Scaling farming innovations: the what, for what and how” took place on April 24 and 25, 2019, in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. The event was led by Lennart Woltering, international scaling expert at CIMMYT, María Boa, CIMMYT scaling coordinator, and Jorge García, CIMMYT Hub Manager from the MasAgro project in Chiapas.

This training was held under the project for Strengthening Market Access for Small Producers of Maize and Legumes in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Campeche, which is financed by the Walmart Foundation.

Mexico’s heirloom corn is dying out–but this designer has a plan to stop it

Written by Mary Donovan on June 7, 2019. Posted in In the media.

Francisco Canul Poot in his land. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Sustainable tradition

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on June 3, 2019. Posted in Blogs.

The indigenous peoples who lived in central and southern Mexico thousands of years ago developed a resilient intercropping system to domesticate some of the basic grains and vegetables that contribute to a healthy diet.

Today, small farmers in roughly the same areas of Mexico continue to use this flexible system called “milpa” to grow chili, tomatoes, beans, squashes, seasonal fruits and maize, which are essential ingredients of most Mexican dishes.

An analysis of the Mexican diet done in the context of a recent report by the EAT – Lancet Commission found that Mexicans are eating too much animal fat but not enough fruits, vegetables, legumes and wholegrains. As a result, a serious public health issue is affecting Mexico due to the triple burden of malnutrition: obesity, micronutrient deficiency and/or low caloric intake. The study also urges Mexico to increase the availability of basic foodstuffs of higher nutritional value produced locally and sustainably.

Although changing food consumption habits may be hard to achieve, the traditional diet based on the milpa system is widely regarded as a healthy option in Mexico. Although nutritional diversity increases with the number of crops included in the milpa system, its nutritional impact in the consumers will also depend on their availability, number, uses, processing and consumption patterns.

Unfortunately, milpa farmers often practice slash-and-burn agriculture at the expense of soils and tropical rainforests. For that reason, it is also important to address some of the production-side obstacles on the way to a healthier diet, such as soil degradation and post-harvest losses, which have a negative effect on agricultural productivity and human health.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) engages in participatory field research and local capacity-building activities with farmers, local partners and authorities to foster innovation and to co-create strategies and procedures that help farmers produce food sustainably.

These efforts led Francisco Canul Poot, a milpa farmer from the Yucatan Peninsula, to adopt conservation agriculture concepts in his milpa and to stop burning soil residues since 2016. As a result, his maize yield grew by 70%, from 430 to 730 kg per hectare, and his income increased by $300 dollars. 15 farmers sharing property rights over communal land have followed his example since.

These outstanding results are encouraging more farmers to adopt sustainable intensification practices across Mexico, an important change considering that falling levels of nitrogen and phosphorus content in Mexican soils may lead to a 70 percent increase in fertilizer use by 2050.

By implementing a sustainable intensification project called MasAgro, CIMMYT contributes, in turn, to expand the use of sustainable milpa practices in more intensive production systems. CIMMYT is also using this approach in the Milpa Sustentable Península de Yucatán project.

At present, more than 500 thousand farmers have adopted sustainable intensification practices — including crop diversification and low tillage — to grow maize, wheat and related crops on more than 1.2 million hectares across Mexico.

Breaking Ground: Mechanization expert Jelle Van Loon goes as far as creativity allows

Written by Emma Orchardson on May 29, 2019. Posted in Features.

In November 2015, Jelle Van Loon set off for Zimbabwe, with a cross-section plan in his backpack. He spent two weeks working with a group of blacksmiths, searching Harare for parts and assembling machines in a bid to test whether the construction plans developed by his team were indeed designed to be built anywhere. “We might have had to change a few things, but three working machines were built, proving the accessibility of the construction plans and inherent replicability of the designs.”

From studying agronomic engineering and crop modelling in Belgium to working on supply chain issues in Peru, Jelle Van Loon amassed a range of experience before joining the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in 2012. Soon after joining, he began shaping up a team to work on mechanization issues.

“First and foremost I’m an agricultural engineer; I just happen to have a high affinity with mechanics,” he says. “I think my advantage is having a broad knowledge, being able to understand agronomy as well as mechanical engineering, and having studied agricultural economics in developing countries.”

This background has served him well in a role where a hands-on, multidisciplinary approach is crucial.

“Mechanization doesn’t necessarily mean building or creating more machines,” Van Loon explains, “but rather introducing technology and farm equipment to farmers to facilitate their work, as well as supporting them on how and when to use it to increase production efficiency.” Many people also assume that mechanization only involves motorized equipment such as tractors, he adds, when in fact any tool, even simple hand tools, which facilitate farmer work and alleviate drudgery fit into this concept.

CIMMYT’s mechanization team carries out research and development on a range of farm equipment. Team members draw and design prototypes, test them in the field and develop protocols for experiments. Combining agronomy and mechanics, they work to create machinery that supports farmers in their day-to-day work at each stage of the crop cycle: from land preparation, planting and fertilization, to harvest and shelling. They also support the generation of new business models which can deliver appropriate machinery to farmers working within resilient agri-food systems.

Welcome to the machine

One of the biggest challenges is changing the way farmers work. Many are resistant to investing in new machinery because they are unsure of how to use it, and simply cannot afford the risk of failure. As such, the team also places an emphasis on extension work. They have set up centers where growers can learn about the equipment and rent out some model machines. They also build the capacity of service providers through training on functional engineering for blacksmiths and manufacturers, and market intelligence for small sector entrepreneurs.

“It’s beyond just designing the machine. It’s really about taking products out to the field, seeing what works well and where, and then thinking about how we can get these products into the hands of farmers.”

Building on the work being carried out in Mexico, Van Loon is always looking at how other regions can also benefit from the mechanization unit and opportunities for collaborating with colleagues and partners in Africa and Asia. Equipment developed for farmers in Africa or Latin America could be adapted for use in South Asia or vice versa, but this requires a solid understanding of each region’s unique opportunities and challenges.

He points to the example of the two-wheel tractor engine, developed in China and popularized in Asia during the 1980s, when famine and the loss of draft animals prompted governments to subsidize that particular piece of equipment at the right time. The tractor is ubiquitous in countries such as Bangladesh, but it is unclear whether the same success is replicable in Africa and Latin America, neither of which has the same conditions, second-hand markets or import facilities. “We’re trying to learn from cross-regional efforts to scale up. Being able to understand different areas helps us find the weakest links and create more enabling environments,” Van Loon explains.

He and his team are continuously developing and evaluating new ideas, trialing ways of embedding mechatronics or sensory-based technology into their machines to help capture data and ease farmer workloads. Finding a way to keep these low-cost and convenient for farmer use may be a challenge, but positive testimonials from farmers keep him excited about the possibilities.

“I think it’s worthwhile to follow through on wild new ideas and see what happens because when it works out, the positive impact and change we help create is all that matters,” Van Loon notes.

“And more so, the cool thing about working in mechanization is we can go as far as our creativity lets us.”

Jelle Van Loon demonstrates machinery for visitors at CIMMYT's global headquarters in Mexico. (Photo: Gerardo Mejía/CIMMYT) — Jelle Van Loon demonstrates machinery for visitors at CIMMYT’s global headquarters in Mexico. (Photo: Gerardo Mejía/CIMMYT)

Ventura Oliveros Garcia holds a photograph of her father, Santos Oliveros, who was one of the maize farmers who donated seed to CIMMYT’s genebank in 1966-67. (Photo: E. Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Tracing maize landraces, 50 years later

Written by Carolyn Cowan on May 22, 2019. Posted in Features. 2 Comments on Tracing maize landraces, 50 years later

Maize is more than a crop in Mexico. While it provides food, feed and raw materials, it is also a bloodline running through the generations, connecting Mexico’s people with their past.

The fascinating diversity of maize in Mexico is rooted in its cultural and biological legacy as the center of origin of maize. Landraces, which are maize varieties that have been cultivated and subjected to selection by farmers for generations, retaining a distinct identity and lacking formal crop improvement, provide the basis of this diversity.

As with any cultural legacy, the cultivation of maize landraces can be lost with the passage of time as farmers adapt to changing markets and generational shifts take place.

Doctoral candidate Denisse McLean-Rodríguez, from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy, and researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have undertaken a new study that traces the conservation and abandonment of maize landraces over the last 50 years in Morelos, Mexico’s second smallest state.

The study is based on a collection of 93 maize landrace samples, collected by Ángel Kato as a research assistant back in 1966-67 and stored in CIMMYT’s Maize Germplasm Bank. Researchers traced the 66 families in Morelos who donated the samples and explored the reasons why they abandoned or conserved their landraces.

Doctoral candidate Denisse McLean-Rodríguez (left) interviews maize farmer Roque Juarez Ramirez at his family home in Morelos to explore his opinions on landrace conservation. (Photo: E. Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Tracing landrace abandonment

In six cases, researchers were able to interview the original farmers who donated the samples to CIMMYT. In other cases, they interviewed their family members, most frequently the sons or daughters, or alternatively their grandchildren, siblings, nephews or widows.

The study reveals that maize landrace cultivation has diminished significantly within the families. Only 13 of the 66 families are still cultivating the same maize seed lots as in 1966-67 and there was consensus that the current social, economic and physical environments are unfavorable for landrace cultivation.

Among the reasons for abandonment are changes in maize cultivation technologies, shifting markets for maize and other crops, policy changes, shifting cultural preferences, urbanization and climate change.

“By finding out about landrace continuity in farmers’ fields and the factors driving change, we were able to better understand the context in which these landraces are currently cultivated,” said McLean-Rodríguez. “Our study also allowed us to evaluate the importance of ex situ conservation in facilities like CIMMYT’s Germplasm Bank.”

Juarez and Oliveros’s grandson shows the family’s heirloom maize: maíz colorado (left) and Ancho maize. (Photo: E. Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Maize biodiversity conservation

Maize landraces can be conserved “in situ” in farmers’ fields and “ex situ” in a protected space such as a germplasm bank or community seed bank.

“These conservation strategies are complementary,” explained McLean-Rodríguez. “Ex situ conservation helps to secure landraces in case of unpredictable conditions that threaten their conservation in the field, while in situ cultivation allows the processes that generated maize’s diversity to continue, allowing the emergence of mutations and the evolution of new potentially beneficial traits.”

The loss of landraces in farmers’ fields over 50 years emphasizes the importance of ex situ conservation. CIMMYT’s Maize Germplasm Bank holds 28,000 samples of maize and its wild relatives from 88 countries, spanning collections dating back to 1943. Safeguarded seed stored in the Germplasm Bank is protected from crises or natural disasters, and is available for breeding and research. Traits found in landraces can be incorporated into new varieties to address some of the world’s most pressing agriculture challenges like changing climates, emerging pests and disease, and malnutrition.

McLean-Rodríguez recalls an aspect of the study that she found particularly rewarding: “Many of the families who had lost their landrace for one reason or another were interested in receiving back samples of their maize from the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank. Some were interested due to personal value, while others were more interested in the productive value. They were very happy to retrieve their maize from the Germplasm Bank, and it would be very interesting to learn whether the repatriated seed is cultivated in the future.”

A family tradition

One of the families to take part in the study was farmer Roque Juarez Ramirez and his wife, Ventura Oliveros Garcia, whose father was one of the donor farmers from Morelos. “I was so happy to hear the name of my father, [Santos Oliveros],” recalls Oliveros, remembering the moment McLean-Rodríguez contacted her. “He had always been a maize farmer, as in his day they didn’t cultivate anything else. He planted on his communal village land [ejido] and he was always able to harvest a lot of maize, many ears. He planted an heirloom variety of maize that we called arribeño, or marceño, because it was always planted in March.”

Juarez senses his responsibility as a maize farmer: “I feel that the importance [of maize farming] is not small, but big. We are not talking about keeping 10 or 20 people alive; we have to feed a whole country of people who eat and drink, apart from providing for our families. We, the farmers, generate the food.”

Filling vessels of champurrado, a Mexican maize-based sweet drink, and presenting samples of the family’s staple maize — maíz colorado and the Ancho landrace — Oliveros describes what maize means to her: “Maize is very important to my family and me because it is our main source of food, for both humans and animals. We use our maize variety to make pozole, tortillas, tamales, atole, quesadillas, picadas and many other foods.”

The Juarez-Oliveros family substituted the Ancho seed lot from Olivero’s father with another seed lot from the Ancho landrace obtained from her husband’s family. The Ancho landrace is used to make pozole, and continues to be widely cultivated in some municipalities of Morelos, including Totolapan, where the family resides. However, researchers found other landraces present in the 1966-67 collection, such as Pepitilla, were harder to trace 50 years later.

Maíz colorado (left), or red maize, is an important part of the family’s diet. The family’s Ancho maize (right) has characteristically wide and flat kernels, and is a key ingredient of the pozole stew. (Photo: E. Orchardson/CIMMYT)

The study shows that landrace abandonment is common when farming passed from one generation to the next. Older farmers were attached to their landraces and continued cultivating them, even in the face of pressing reasons to change or replace them. When the younger generations take over farm management, these landraces are often abandoned.

Nonetheless, young farmers still value the cultural and culinary importance of landraces. “Maize has an important traditional and cultural significance, and is fundamental to our economy,” said Isaac Juarez Oliveros, son of Roque and Ventura. “I have been planting [maize landraces] since I was around 15 to 20 years old. I got my maize seed from my parents. I believe it is important for families to keep planting their maize, as it has become tradition passed down through many generations.”

The family’s son, Isaac Juarez Oliveros, stands outside the maize storage room where they store and dry their harvested maize for sale and consumption. (Photo: E. Orchardson/CIMMYT)

The legacy for future generations

Global food security depends on the maintenance of high genetic biodiversity in such key staple food crops as maize. Understanding the causes of landrace abandonment can help to develop effective landrace conservation strategies. The authors suggest that niches for landrace conservation and even expansion can be supported in the same manner that niches have been created for improved maize and other commercial crops. Meanwhile, management of genetic resources is vital, both in the field and in germplasm banks, especially in developing countries where broader diversity exists.

For Oliveros, it is a matter of family legacy: “It means a lot to me that [my family’s seed] was preserved because it has allowed my family’s maize and my father’s memory to stay alive.”

“Farmers who cultivate landraces are providing an invaluable global public service,” state the authors of the study. “It will be key to encourage maize landrace cultivation in younger farmers. Tapping into the conservation potential of the current generation of farmers is an opportunity we should not miss.”

Read the full study:
The abandonment of maize landraces over the last 50 years in Morelos, Mexico: a tracing study using a multi-level perspective

Funding for this research was provided by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and Wageningen University.

A special acknowledgement to the families, focus group participants and municipal authorities from the state of Morelos who kindly devoted time to share their experiences with us, on the challenges and rewards of maize landrace conservation.

Velu Govindan

Written by Emma Orchardson on May 8, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

Velu Govindan is a senior wheat breeder at the CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program in Mexico. He has been engaged in wheat improvement research for the past 15 years. During this period, he made significant contributions towards the development and release of more than 20 biofortified wheat varieties in South Asia with enhanced zinc and iron concentration, with tolerance to rusts & other foliar diseases and climate change-induced heat and drought stress.

Govindan is leading the two of the spring wheat breeding pipelines targeted to early maturing wheat environments with wheat yield potential, climate resilience and yield stability across diverse environments by combining traditional breeding and cutting-edge genomic tools. He is leading the CIMMYT breeding efforts towards mainstreaming grain Zn across elite wheat lines through accelerated breeding strategies. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters. He received young scientist award from India.