Location: Mexico

MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico by leading university

Written by on February 22, 2016. Posted in News. 1 Comment on MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico by leading university

**MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico. Photographer: MasAgro/CIMMYT**

MONTERREY, Mexico – The Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) project of Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, in close collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), was recognized by Universidad Tecnológico y Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) as being one of “10 projects that are transforming Mexico.”

“This project is transforming Mexico and, four years after its launch, it has benefited more than 200,000 farmers,” said Silverio García Lara, professor at ITESM’s School of Engineering and Science, Monterrey campus. “The project focuses on the base of the productive and economic pyramid,” explained the researcher, who favors “developing cutting-edge technologies to regenerate and renew Mexican farming.”

ITESM is involved in a project focusing on biotechnology for food security that applies cutting-edge technologies to analyze MasAgro’s new maize varieties and ensure they meet the nutrition and processing quality parameters of the Mexican market, explained Natalia Palacios, the person responsible for CIMMYT’s Maize Quality Laboratory, in an information bulletin that was broadcast when the winning project was presented at the 46th Research and Development Congress held on 20-22 January at ITESM’s Student Center, Monterrey campus.

“We are very proud of MasAgro because its results in the lab and especially in farmers’ fields have been widely recognized both nationally and internationally; today ITESM, a research partner that has collaborated with us since the beginning, also recognizes the project,” said Bram Govaerts, Leader of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Strategy for Latin America.

Among MasAgro’s main achievements, Govaerts highlighted the adoption of sustainable intensification of basic grain production on half a million hectares. He also emphasized the development of 20 high yielding maize hybrids which, combined with MasAgro’s sustainable agronomic practices, have increased rainfed maize farmers’ income by 9-31%. According to Govaerts, 16 precision machines for use in different production situations, from subsistence to intensive or commercial farming, and different postharvest storage solutions are among the technologies that MasAgro offers.

“Our farmers out in the fields are very interested in innovating and obtaining new technologies coming from the labs and from international research institutions such as CIMMYT,” stated García Lara when presenting ITESM’s award for the work done by MasAgro.

New book details benefits of holistic approach to agricultural development in Mexico

Written by on February 9, 2016. Posted in Features.

The creation, development and strengthening of farmers’ and technicians’ capacities are a pillar of the MasAgro strategy. For this reason, besides investing in research and technological development, SAGARPA and CIMMYT are also investing in building the capacities of agents of change to foster testing and implementation of new technologies with farmers. To this end, as part of the MasAgro Productor (Take It to the Farmer) extension strategy, in 2013, they set up a network of trainers responsible for detecting areas of opportunity for the technicians they supervise and designing a training plan to develop their technical and social skills, which will enable them to innovate together with farmers.

Thanks to this information and their efforts, a book titled Options Available for Implementing MasAgro Technologies has been published which analyzes the options available for implementing sustainable agricultural practices and technologies in 23 Mexican entities where MasAgro instructors have supported, mentored, followed up and evaluated the agents of change who have provided technical backup to farmers involved in this strategy.

This systems focus of agricultural innovation fosters interaction among different actors with the purpose of developing new technologies, better practices, new processes and new ways of organizing and managing. This in turn promotes learning and sets aside the old innovation paradigm––which considers innovation to be the result solely of scientific research and technological development––and regards innovation as a collective event for which everyone is responsible.

This option includes the hubs’[i] physical infrastructure and technological tools, agronomic management solutions and the human capital that has developed within the framework of MasAgro’s extension activities. The book also talks about various constraints and the potential for implementing the technologies promoted by MasAgro in different states of Mexico. This information is organized into five regions based on the distribution of MasAgro trainers: North (Chihuahua, Durango, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas), Center (Estado de México, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Morelos) and West (Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán and Querétaro).

This document will undoubtedly be useful to farmers, technicians, researchers, decision makers, input suppliers, development organizations, traders and other actors involved in MasAgro’s innovation network.

Consult the book at: http://conservacion.cimmyt.org/index.php/es/component/docman/doc_view/1618-libro-de-oferta-tecnologica-masagro

[i] A hub is an agricultural innovation node and a model of agricultural extension where farmers interact with technicians and technicians interact with researchers. These innovation nodes usually have similar agroecological conditions for establishing production systems where different technologies promoted by the MasAgro program are developed, disseminated, adapted and improved (for more information, go to http://conservacion.cimmyt.org).

With information from MasAgro

Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

Written by on January 3, 2016. Posted in Features. 59 Comments on From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In 1935, Japanese scientist Gonjoro Inazuka crossed a semi-dwarf Japanese wheat landrace with two American varieties resulting in an improved variety, known as Norin 10. Norin 10 derived varieties eventually ended up in the hands of Norman Borlaug, beginning one of the most extraordinary agricultural revolutions in history. This international exchange of germplasm ultimately saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation and revolutionized the world of wheat.

The journey of semi-dwarf wheat from Japan to Mexico may have begun in the 3^rd or 4^th century in Korea, where short wheat varieties are thought to have originated. From East Asia, wheat breeders began to seek and utilize dwarfing genes to breed varieties with high yield potential, resistance to lodging and the ability to produce more tillers than traditional varieties.

The term Norin is an acronym for the Japanese Agricultural Experiment Station spelled out using Latin letters. From 150 centimeters (cm) that other varieties measured, Norin 10 reduced wheat plant height to 60-110 cm. The shorter stature is a result of the reduced height genes Rht₁ and Rht₂.

Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 - a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust - and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT — Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 – a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust – and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT

Norin 10 began to attract international attention after a visit by S.D. Salmon, a renowned wheat breeder in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to Marioka Agriculture Research Station in Honshu. Salmon took some samples of the Norin 10 variety back to the United States, where in the late 1940s Orville Vogel at Washington State University used them to help produce high-yielding, semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties, of which Gaines was the first one.

In neighboring Mexico, Norman Borlaug and his team were focusing their efforts on tackling the problem of lodging and rust resistance. After unsuccessfully screening the entire USDA World Wheat Germplasm collection for shorter and strong varieties, Borlaug wrote to Vogel and requested seed containing the Norin 10 dwarfing genes. Norin 10 was a lucky break, providing both short stature and rust resistance.

In 1953, Borlaug began crossing Vogel’s semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties with Mexican varieties. The first attempt at incorporating the Vogel genes into Mexican varieties failed. But after a series of crosses and re-crosses, the result was a new type of spring wheat: short and stiff-strawed varieties that tillered profusely, produced more grain per head, and were less likely to lodge. The semi-dwarf Mexican wheat progeny began to be distributed nationally, and within seven years, average wheat yields in Mexico had doubled. By 1962, 10 years after Vogel first supplied seed of the Norin 10 semi-dwarf progeny to Borlaug, two high-yielding semi-dwarf Norin 10 derivatives, Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, were released for commercial production.

As the figure below indicates, these wheat varieties then led to a flow of other high-yielding wheat varieties, including Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64, two varieties that led to the Green Revolution in India, Pakistan and other countries, and Siete Cerros 66, which at its peak was grown on over 7 million hectares in the developing world. The most widely grown variety during this period was the very early maturing variety Sonalika, which is still grown in India today.

[Reproduced from Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine]

In the early 1960s South Asia was facing mass starvation and extreme food insecurity. To combat this challenge, scientists and governments in the region began assessing the value of Mexican semi-dwarf wheat varieties for their countries. Trials in India and Pakistan were convincing, producing high yields that offered the potential for a dramatic breakthrough in wheat production but only after agronomy practices were changed. Without these changes, the Green Revolution would never have taken off.

From left to right: Norman Borlaug, Mohan Kohli and Sanjaya Rajaram at Centro de Investigaciones Agricolas del Noreste (CIANO), Sonora, Mexico, in 1973. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Borlaug had sent a fewdozen seeds of his high-yielding, disease-resistant semi-dwarf wheat varieties to India to test their resistance to local rust strains. M.S. Swaminathan, a wheat cytogeneticist and advisor to the Indian Minister of Agriculture, immediately grasped their potential for Indian agriculture and wrote to Borlaug, inviting him to India. Soon after the unexpected invitation reached him, Borlaug boarded a Pan Am Boeing 707 to India.

To accelerate the potential of Borlaug’s wheat, in 1967 Pakistan imported about 42,000 tons of semi-dwarf wheat seed from Mexico, Turkey imported 22,000 tons and India 18,000 tons. At the time this was the largest seed purchase in the history of agriculture. Wheat yield improvement in both India and Pakistan was unlike anything seen before.

Fifty years on, we face new challenges, even though we have continued to make incremental increases to average yield. There is an ever-increasing demand for wheat from a growing worldwide population with changing dietary preferences. The world’s climate is changing; temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more common. Natural resources, especially ground water, are also being depleted; new crop diseases are emerging and yield increases are not keeping pace with demand.

Borlaug and his contemporaries kicked off the Green Revolution by combining semi-dwarf, rust resistant and photoperiod insensitive traits. Today, a new plan and commitment to achieving another quantum leap in wheat productivity are in place. The International Wheat Yield Partnership, an international public-private partnership, is exploiting the best wheat research worldwide to increase wheat yield potential by up to 50%. This one-of-a-kind initiative will transfer germplasm to leading breeding programs around the world.

Cover photo: Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

Food historian Rachel Laudan visits CIMMYT

Written by on November 27, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Food historian Rachel Laudan visits CIMMYT

CIMMYT genetic resources phenotyping coordinator Martha Willcox (left) reviews some of the many improved maize varieties that are shipped around the world from Mexico each year. (Photo: CIMMYT)

On 19 November, CIMMYT hosted well-known food historian Rachel Laudan, who is currently conducting maize research and came to CIMMYT to interact with maize scientists to better understand the current state of maize in Mexico. Laudan’s website with links to her books, blog, and more may be found here. Read her recent article ‘A Plea for Culinary Modernism’ in Jacobin magazine here.

Martha Willcox (left) points out specific maize varieties being stored in the germplasm bank as author Rachel Laudan looks on. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Watch Rachel Laudan discuss maize and the changing status of food staples globally during her visit to CIMMYT here.

New extension agents to promote sustainable agriculture in northern Mexico

Written by on October 6, 2015. Posted in News.

Course participants receiving their certificates. Photo credit : Luz Paola López Amezcua/CIMMYT — Course participants receiving their certificates.
Photo credit : Luz Paola López Amezcua/CIMMYT

After finishing a course they started in April 2014 and obtaining their official certification, 39 extension agents from the states of Sonora and Sinaloa in Mexico’s northern Pacific region had their graduation ceremony and joined MasAgro’s innovation and extension network as certified technicians in sustainable agriculture. The ceremony took place on 9-10 September during the International Sustainable Agriculture Forum in Ciudad Obregón, an event that seeks to drive the region’s efforts and resources and which in 2015 is focusing on climate change and water management related issues.

To become a certified technician in sustainable agriculture, candidates must take an intensive one-year course that includes regular theoretical and practical instruction given by national and international experts. The goal is to develop the future technicians’ abilities and skills in preparation for their role as agents of change as part of MasAgro’s extension strategy, which includes delivering to farmers practices that increase their income, help improve their food security, and protect the environment.

The 39 extension agents in northern Mexico who were certified as technicians in sustainable agriculture. Photo credit : Luz Paola López Amezcua/CIMMYT

During the ceremony Bram Govaerts, Associate Director of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program, said he was very proud of the technicians’ efforts and work, and highlighted the crucial role Mexico is playing in the development of a more sustainable agriculture. “If there is a country that is an example of the agricultural sector driving the economy, if there is a country that can incorporate the different actors into the production chain in order to foster sustainable production, it’s Mexico. And that’s because Mexico has the talent needed to achieve this.” The graduates were given their certificates by representatives of the Mexican Government who presided at the event.

The newly certified extension agents in Sonora and Sinaloa will become promoters of the hub participative model, which aims at establishing links with public and private actors, and will work in the affected areas of the northern Pacific region, which in 2014 totaled 1,821 ha.

MasAgro impacts: four years harvesting sustainability in Mexico’s farmlands

Written by on July 18, 2015. Posted in News.

Luz Paola López, Sustainable Intensification Program for Latin America

The “Impactos #4MasAgro” communications campaign that CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program for Latin America conducted from 23 September-1 December in Mexico, published the results that the MasAgro initiative has obtained during the four years it has been operating in farmers’ fields in Mexico.

One of the campaign’s objectives was to promote MasAgro as an inclusive farm production model and position Mexico as a disseminator of agricultural technology that seeks to achieve global prosperity and food security. Among the impacts publicized in the campaign were:

The National Agricultural and Livestock Survey indicated that between 2012 and 2014, conservation agriculture increased by 12%, while crop rotation increased by 7.2%; both were actively promoted by MasAgro.
According to Mexico’s Agricultural and Livestock Information Service, in 2014 the average maize yield in temperate regions was 2.39 t/ha, while in MasAgro’s areas of influence, it was 4 t/ha.
The income of maize farmers who participate in MasAgro increased 9-31%, while wheat farmers’ income increased up to 25%.
Forty-two national seed companies that work with MasAgro Maize now hold 28% of the improved maize seed market.
MasAgro’s improved seed, technologies, and sustainable cropping practices have been adopted on 440,000 ha, and MasAgro has had indirect impact on 1 million ha through training, field events, etc.
Nine Mexican students have received scholarships and trained to obtain Ph.Ds. in wheat physiology at universities in Australia, Chile, the US, and the UK.
A Maize and Wheat Molecular Atlas has been developed that contains maps showing the characteristics (soil type, climate, and adaptation) of sites where native landraces have been collected, along with demographic information (race, use, and productivity), and space, time, and genetic distances.

The campaign became known in social networks through the hashtag #4MasAgro, which had 3,468,237 hits. We also used our own publications, such as the EnlACe Bulletin, which published 11 special issues, and MasAgro Móvil, which sent out 6,214 messages on impacts to its users. In addition, 34 articles were published in Mexican newspapers and news sites, 9 interviews were broadcast over the radio and 2 on television, with an estimated audience of 2,843,345.

There’s no doubt that the campaign’s success was due to the participation of MasAgro collaborators, given that institutions, farmers, scientists, and extension agents took up the messages and spread them through social networks, at meetings and other events. In conclusion, “Impactos #4MasAgro” is a great example of a team working to communicate agricultural innovations.

Harnessing Mexico’s Sun: CIMMYT Installs 920 Solar Panels in Green Initiative

Written by on May 18, 2015. Posted in News.

Mexico’s solar thermal and photovoltaic resources are among the world’s best. Just one square of 25 kilometers in the State of Chihuahua or the Sonoran desert would be sufficient to supply electricity to the entire country.¹ Mexico’s Secretariat of Energy (SENER) predicts the country will have 6 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy installed by 2020, although less than 1% of that is currently installed. The Mexican Government offers no direct subsidy to solar energy.

Demand for electricity in Mexico is increasing, and 22 GW will be needed by 2025. Energy costs are rising 8-10% annually. Despite little government intervention, the private solar sector in Mexico has been booming, experiencing triple-digit growth rates every three years over the past ten years and becoming one of the fastest growing solar energy markets globally.

CIMMYT is actively taking advantage of solar energy’s potential in Mexico.

“The project started a year and a half ago, when the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) offered to fund self-efficient energy projects,” said Francisco J. Peñafort Olivas, Facilities Manager at CIMMYT-El Batan. “They gave us €750,000 EUR this January to install 920 solar panels that produce 275 kilowatts (KW) of energy. This produces about 12% of the total amount of energy CIMMYT demands per month, saving us around US $35,000/year.”

Photo: Francisco Peñafort/CIMMYT

Peñafort pointed out that, unlike most organizations taking advantage of Mexico’s solar resources, CIMMYT requires energy 24/7 to power the genebank and other biosciences chambers. “We are planning to implement two more phases in this solar panel project and reach 495 KW of power, which would supply around 22% of CIMMYT’s energy and save nearly US $63,000 per year,” he said.

At least another €4 million EUR are needed for CIMMYT to achieve self-efficiency, but this is a step in the right direction. The solar panels have a 25-year warranty, and if a panel fails or falls below 80% efficiency, it is immediately replaced. “We also installed equipment to measure the energy we’re expending and monitor how each panel is working, and we’re sharing these data with CIMMYT’s genebank and the German Government,” said Peñafort.

CIMMYT is investing in other green initiatives as well. For example, it is replacing all the lights in the genebank with light-emitting diode lights, which will save around US $400 per year in energy. According to Peñafort, new energy-saving air conditioning systems are being installed throughout the campus. The solar panels are a long-term investment in CIMMYT going green and, in pursuit of self-sufficiency, the Center will continue to expand its solar program with other renewable initiatives.

¹ Assuming a net system efficiency of 15%, based on the SENER and the German Technical Cooperation Agency 2009 study “Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in México”

Sculptor captures demeanor of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug

Written by on April 13, 2015. Posted in News.

Sculptor Katharine McDevitt (R) stands in front of the bronze sculpture she created of Norman Borlaug with his daughter, Jeanie Borlaug Laube. (Photo: Marcelo Ortiz/CIMMYT)

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Artist Katharine McDevitt, creator of a new bronze representation of wheat scientist Norman Borlaug, is fascinated by sculptures representing pre-Hispanic deities – so much so that she relocated to Mexico from the United States to learn more about the ancient art form.

She studied, and then taught, sculpture at “La Esmeralda,” the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in Mexico City, where renowned Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera taught in the 1940s.

Almost 40 years later, McDevitt is still in Mexico where for the past 21 years she has worked at the Chapingo Autonomous University of agriculture and the National Museum of Agriculture as a sculpture instructor and artist in residence.

The Chapingo campus, in the city of Texcoco about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Mexico City, is home to a mural painted by Rivera in the 1920s titled “Fertile Land.”

Sculptor McDevitt says her personal pre-Hispanic favorite is a 16th century basalt depiction of the Aztec earth goddess Coatlicue, associated with agriculture, the cycle of life, the mother of the moon, stars and Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, sun and human sacrifice. The 2.6-meter (8.5-foot) tall sculpture, housed in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, represents Coatlicue decapitated, snakes emerging from her neck, clad in a skirt of snakes and a necklace of human hearts, hands and a skull.

“I’m always very moved by pre-Hispanic sculpture, I find it very powerful – it’s a language that speaks across boundaries of culture, you can feel the tremendous energy,” said McDevitt, who has also made her own pantheon of deities, including the Diosa del Maíz statue at Chapingo.

The massive stone Coatlicue sculpture is a far cry from her own gentle tribute in bronze to a more contemporary agricultural giant – 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug – which was unveiled in the presence of his daughter Jeanie Laube Borlaug and members of the international wheat community at CIMMYT headquarters near Texcoco last week.

Borlaug, who died in 2009 at age 95, led efforts that began at CIMMYT in Mexico to develop high-yielding, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century. His successes, which earned him the title “Father of the Green Revolution,” are estimated to have helped save more than 1 billion lives in the developing world.

The life-size sculpture is based on an emblematic photograph of the scientist, McDevitt said. Borlaug, originally from Iowa, is wearing a familiar hat, jotting down notes in a book and wearing a class ring from the University of Minnesota where he earned his graduate degrees. The wheat stalks at his feet were made from casts of wheat plants of the varieties used for the Green Revolution, McDevitt said.

“This is the most inspiring figure I’ve ever had the privilege of doing,” McDevitt said, adding that she considers Borlaug a modern god of agriculture. “This project has been the greatest honor of my career. There was a lot of input from CIMMYT staff who knew Dr. Borlaug well. They offered suggestions, useful comments and tips on how to make the sculpture more life-like, how to make it more faithful to who Dr. Borlaug was.”

McDevitt also designs and produces pre-Hispanic rituals at the Chapingo Autonomous University, including a graduation ritual designed around Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain, water, lightning and agriculture. Each August, McDevitt designs a welcome ritual for new students based around the story of Xilonen, the corn goddess.

In 2001, Borlaug participated in an interactive seed sowing-ritual inspired by Rivera’s murals. As part of the ritual, which occurs every year on Agronomy Day on February 22, a hand – created by McDevitt – emerges from furrows of earth, laid out in the National Agricultural Museum.

Three life-size versions of McDevitt’s Borlaug statue exist. One is in Ciudad Obregon in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and the other is in Delhi, India. A small number of miniature replicas have been distributed to recognize important achievements of key contributors to global food security, including 2014 World Food Prize laureate Sanjaya Rajaram, a former student of Borlaug’s at CIMMYT.

“First Lady of Wheat” in Mexico to celebrate her father, Norman Borlaug

Written by on April 13, 2015. Posted in Features.

The late wheat breeder Norman Borlaug was so dedicated to his work that he was away from home 80 percent of the time, either travelling or in the field, recalls his daughter, Jeanie Borlaug Laube.

Photo: Alfredo Sáenz/CIMMYT

Scientist Borlaug, who died in 2009 at age 95, led efforts in the mid-20th century to develop high-yielding, disease resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world.

Wheat breeders, scientists and members of the global food security community celebrated his birthday at a week-long meeting hosted by CIMMYT in the vast wheat fields of the Yaqui Valley near the town of Ciudad Obregón in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora.

Each year, CIMMYT Visitors’ Week serves as an opportunity to brainstorm, exchange ideas and celebrate Borlaug’s legacy on the anniversary of his birthday.

Borlaug, who would have been 101 this year, started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s near CIMMYT headquarters outside Mexico City.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 partly for his experimental work, much of which took place in the hot, dry conditions of Obregón, which resemble conditions in many developing countries where CIMMYT works.

This year, his daughter, who is co-chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, a partnership to study and and control devastating stem, yellow and leaf wheat rust disease, spoke on women and agriculture at the event. She is also involved with the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Mentor Award, which honors mentors of both genders who aid women working in Triticum species and near relatives. Additionally, she sits on the board of directors of the Borlaug Training Foundation, established to provide agricultural education and guidance to scientists from developing nations.

She shared her views in the following interview.

Q: What is your current involvement in agriculture?

I’m not officially in agriculture – I’m a Spanish teacher. I taught for 40 years in high school until I retired three years ago. In the last 25 years of my career I had started a community service program at two different schools in Dallas and ran it. This involves 750 kids a year out doing community service. I still taught one Spanish class but my basic job was community service director. I haven’t been involved in agriculture directly. Indirectly, I have been because I was Norman Borlaug’s daughter so I’ve been around it, but I wasn’t raised on a farm, never lived on a farm, didn’t study agriculture or science in school.

What is your current involvement with wheat?

I’m co-chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative – I go to the conferences once a year where all the wheat scientists of the world get together. I go to all the conferences and sit and listen and try to learn and follow what is going on with rust and the different problems they are having with wheat. I’m involved with the Women in Triticum Award. I visit and follow up with them and they are the ones who are out in the field learning how to become scientists and continue the profession. That’s how I’m involved in wheat.

Q: What are your views on women in agriculture?

I was in Pakistan last year and the U.S. Department of Agriculture set up a meeting with women who were all scientists working on their doctoral degrees – or already had a Ph.D. in agriculture. The discussions were very interesting as far as the difficulties that women find in this field and the pluses and minuses that are involved with that. It was interesting to hear different aspects of what they were feeling. The academic studies were not a difficult thing for them, but the reality of raising a family and keeping a profession going and taking care of a husband or children at the same time as being away from home presented problems.

No matter what profession women are in, challenges confront them because we have to multi-task. It doesn’t matter whether you are an accountant, a geneticist or a teacher – as a mother or trying to run a family and a profession, I think it’s challenging for a lot of women.

Q: What impresses you about women in agriculture?

I’m always amazed at the women scientists who are out there working at these wheat conferences and out in the in the field and taking care of their families from afar or even before they get married or have children, just the dedication they have to helping feed the world.

Q: What are your views on food security?

I don’t think the general population has any clue as to what goes on with agriculture. As my dad used to say, everybody just thinks the food comes from the grocery store and that’s where it is – it just pops in there. The average person doesn’t have a clue about that.

Q: What has changed since your father’s time?

I imagine he’d be facing the same challenges. I think it would be really interesting if he were still around because he’d be going crazy right now with all of this fighting about gluten-free and over genetically modified plants. He was so dedicated. His mission was to feed the world.

I think it is still the same mission. I think it is probably just a little harder because you have more public opinion and lack of info for what you need. He was changing genes and they are still doing that and they need to because they need to find plants that require less fertilizer and less water and provide more protein. What is amazing to me is to think about how they are working with computers now and he did all this in his head with notebooks.

He’d leave home at five in the morning and get home at eight at night. When he was in town he was gone about 80 percent of the time. When he first started this shuttle breeding program he’d come to Sonora. That was in the 40s – he had to go up through Arizona and back down at first because there were no roads. He’d be up here for three months, then he’d go back down, then he’d go to Toluca and South America, then he started going to India and Pakistan. In later years he was going Africa, so he was never home.

Q: Where did you grow up?

I was raised in Mexico City. My brother was born in Mexico and I came here when I was 14 months old. I lived here until I went to college. I did my schooling down here.

Q: Did your father try and encourage women in science and agriculture?

Yes he did. Back then there weren’t very many women in agriculture and scence. I think he’d be very pleased to see the turn with what’s happening with women in agriculture.

Q: What is it like celebrating your father?

It’s really neat. When my dad realized that he was going to die he asked me to bring ashes back to Mexico so I did. The last two years we came before he died, we came in a private jet because he couldn’t travel. It was so hard to get here. I remember I looked at his face as we were approaching Obregón. His face was just pure relief. He loved this place and he’d see the wheat fields and it was magical for him. Coming back is kind of bittersweet, realizing how much he loved the farmers too as they loved him.

MasAgro Móvil brings key crop Information to farmers’ mobile phones in Guanajuato

Written by on August 25, 2014. Posted in News.

As of April, farmers in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato are now receiving localized agriculture updates and decision-making advice on their mobile telephones thanks to a service launched by MasAgro Móvil. This new development in MasAgro Móvil’s service is part of Guanajuato’s plan to modernize agriculture with CIMMYT-developed technologies. MasAgro Móvil, a project of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program, along with other MasAgro tools, received an investment of 10.4 million pesos (US$ 804,000) thanks to the support of Miguel Márquez Márquez, governor of Guanajuato, who seeks to promote sustainable agriculture in his state.

The head of CIMMYT's GIS unit, Kai Sonder, demonstrating the use of GPS. — The head of CIMMYT’s GIS unit, Kai Sonder, demonstrating the use of GPS.

Javier Usabiaga Arroyo, Guanajuato’s secretary of agricultural development, announced on 31 May that approximately 755,000 farmers in Guanajuato will eventually have access to vital information through e-MasAgro, a virtual ecosystem that connects various agriculture-related information tools on one site, including MasAgro Móvil. Farmers “will receive technical information, recommendations, response to agricultural plagues and diseases and anything else they might need to improve their production,” he told the El Heraldo newspaper.

The regionalized service offered by MasAgro Móvil in Guanajuato has the potential to be a game-changer for smallholder and medium-scale farmers. After registering for the service, farmers receive short, simple, timely and free agricultural information on the most innovative and profitable conservation agriculture practices. Each message is compatible with the region´s agricultural cycle and provides information that is difficult for an average farmer to find. In the past few months, MasAgro Móvil has sent various messages specific to Guanajuato, focusing on fertilization and monitoring for diseases. It also began sending weekly weather forecasts, regionalized news and invitations to local events.

Photo: Guanajuato Communication Department

In the future, the service will add price alerts, crop health advice and more market-segmented information. The developers are also experimenting with messages that interact with the users, help retrieve user information and facilitate feedback. Abraham Menaldo, a consultant for MasAgro Móvil, said the feedback has been positive so far and farmers are eager to participate and interact. MasAgro Móvil’s goal is to expand this model to the rest of the country, which would replace the current service that sends information to each of MasAgro’s innovation centers, known as hubs.

Project leaders are developing collaborations to create parallel services in the states of Tlaxcala and Hidalgo. A communications campaign planned for autumn 2014 will encourage more farmers to use the system. Extension agents will identify places where farmers congregate, and visit in person to help them register on-site. The campaign will include a study of the target group’s perceptions of MasAgro, their livelihood and the future of farming. MasAgro Móvil’s website offers detailed information about services, future projects, program activities and CIMMYT’s partner-led mobile development projects around the world.

The site will eventually offer an online registration service to minimize some of the technological problems farmers have encountered, such as autocorrect mistakenly changing the spelling of a key word. MasAgro Móvil was recognized by the Inter-American Development Bank as an ideal tool to integrate farmers into the agricultural value chain in its report “The Next Global Breadbasket: How Latin America Can Feed the World: A Call to Action for Addressing Challenges & Developing Solutions.”

CIMMYT strengthens ties with Mexico’s Science Council

Written by on January 22, 2014. Posted in News.

Research center directors from throughout Mexico met to identify possible collaborations on 25 November at CIMMYT-El Batán. Visitors, all from National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) centers, included Lorenzo Felipe Sanchez Teyer, director general of the Yucatán Scientific Research Center A.C. (CICY); Pablo Wong-González, director general of the Center for Food Research and Development A.C. (CIAD); Mayra de la Torre, who is in charge of strategic programs for CIAD; and Martín Aluja Schuneman Hofer, director general of the Ecology Institute A.C. (INECOL).

Aluja received the 2013 National Award for Science and Arts in the technology, innovation and design category. This important award recognizes his invaluable contribution to promoting agriculture and strengthening the marketing of Mexican avocados, among other work to improve science and technology in Mexico. Congratulations Dr. Aluja! During the visit and meetings with CIMMYT researchers, attendees identified potential areas of collaboration with each CONACYT research center. They agreed on possible areas of focus, including impact modeling on long-term agricultural practices, social inclusion research, technological innovation, value chain and market research, nutritional quality and climate change.

Other CONACYT research centers participated in the first analysis and planning meeting for a national postgraduate program in plant genetic resources, held at CIMMYT on 13-14 November. The initiative is led by MasAgro- Biodiversity. Participation at the workshop included 21 national universities and research centers as well as the Northwest Center for Biological Research (CIBNOR), El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) and INECOL.

Left to right: Carlos Moisés Hernández, Denise Costich, Lorenzo Felipe Sanchez Teyer, Kevin Pixley, Mayra de la Torre, Martín Aluja Schuneman Hofer, Pablo Wong-González, Natalia Palacios, Sara Hearne, Isabel Peña, Carolina Saint-Pierre, Francelino Rodrigues, Carlos Guzmán and Gilberto Salinas. Photo: Xochiquezatl Fonseca/CIMMYT — Left to right: Carlos Moisés Hernández, Denise Costich, Lorenzo Felipe Sanchez Teyer, Kevin Pixley, Mayra de la Torre, Martín Aluja Schuneman Hofer, Pablo Wong-González, Natalia Palacios, Sara Hearne, Isabel Peña, Carolina Saint-Pierre,
Francelino Rodrigues, Carlos Guzmán and Gilberto Salinas. Photo: Xochiquezatl Fonseca/CIMMYT

The CONACYT system includes 27 research institutes that focus on science and technology. Research areas and objectives include natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities, technological development and innovation and financial support for postgraduate studies. Inocencio Higuera, deputy director general of CONACYT’s public centers who visited CIMMYT in August 2013, said CONACYT is extremely important to Mexico. CIMMYT has signed academic and scientific collaboration agreements with CONACYT centers including ECOSUR, CIAD, INECOL, CICY and the Social Anthropology Research and Study Center (CIESAS). These five-year agreements establish collaboration and cooperation terms and conditions for the development and implementation of specific research projects as well as academic exchange and training.

CIMMYT recognizes the importance of exchanging scientific knowledge and strengthening research with institutes that have solid infrastructure and expertise in anthropology and social impact, biotechnology, ecological management, nanotechnology, nutrition and high-quality human resources development.

Memorial tribute for Goyo Martínez, master builder of lasting relationships in Mexico

Written by on April 26, 2013. Posted in News.

Goyo4 Nearly 140 members of the CIMMYT community and valued Mexican partners gathered on 16 April 2013 with the family of Gregorio “Goyo” Martínez Valdés, retired CIMMYT institutional relations officer who succumbed to cancer at 77 on 07 April, in a solemn ceremony in the pine grove at El Batán to commemorate his life and work.

An extension communications specialist by training, Martínez first studied at the Antonio Narro Agrarian Autonomous University in Mexico (UAAAN) and went on to complete MSc (1962) and PhD (1966) degrees at the University of Wisconsin, USA. His education and early employment coincided and brought him in close contact with the emergence of modern agricultural research in Mexico, the joint Rockefeller Foundation-Mexico Office of Special Studies (OSS) that was the cradle of the Green Revolution, and leading national and international figures of that historic time, including Norman E. Borlaug and Edwin Wellhausen.

Martínez was crucial to maintaining CIMMYT linkages with Mexican researchers and organizations, as well as the center’s humanitarian heart, according to director general Thomas A. Lumpkin, who spoke at the memorial event. “When I arrived at CIMMYT in 2008, Goyo pleaded with me to rebuild the relationship with Mexico,” said Lumpkin. “Relationships are [built] person-to-person, not institution-to-institution. Goyo was a master at those relationships.”

According to UAAAN rector, Eladio H. Cornejo Oviedo, Goyo represented the best of the values of his Alma Mater. “We should not forget his legacy,” said Cornejo. “Goyo is a clear example of what [the university] seeks, that alumni should be great scientists but also great persons—builders of bridges, of friendships, of relationships…that foster progress in society,” he said.

Jesús Moncada de la Fuente, director general of the Colegio de Postgraduados, a key partner in initiatives such as MasAgro, recalled a close friendship with Goyo that began in 1957 when they worked together in the OSS, as well as Goyo’s contributions as an editor and teacher in the Colegio de Postgraduados. “He shared his knowledge and experience as a founding professor for our graduate program in rural sociology and extension,” he said. “For his contributions, career, and example, Dr. Gregorio Martínez may be rightly considered among the most outstanding protagonists in agricultural science.”

In an emotional tribute, CIMMYT maize researcher Martha Willcox said Goyo worked behind the scenes with no ego or personal interest, and that no one would ever know the full extent of his contributions. “In 1995 I was asked to work with the Mexican Biosafety Committee to help create regulations for transgenic testing,” she said. “Goyo was my mentor through this process. I think I was in his office three times every day to ask for his advice. He was my sounding board, he helped me arrange high level meetings, gave me advice on personalities…. I owe him a huge debt for his support during that time, as does CIMMYT, because the work that we did together positioned CIMMYT as an honest broker and scientific resource for transgenic work that follows through to the present…. I miss him every day. I wish I could still go downstairs for his advice.”

Goyo6B “He had a big heart, divided into clear portions, and CIMMYT occupied a big chunk,” said Martínez’s son Francisco, who noted his father’s supreme love for work and colleagues. He also brought a portion of his father’s ashes and bequeathed them to CIMMYT.

After the stories and tributes, Lumpkin, Martínez’s widow Cristina Cajiga, children Verónica and Francisco, and other family members and close friends presided over the planting of a memorial oak tree. CIMMYT wheat scientist Roberto Javier Peña noted Martínez’s special role as a mentor and supporter for young students and researchers. “Goyo planted many new ‘trees’ that will go on contributing to the welfare of Mexico and other nations,” he said.

Dr. Norman E. Borlaug

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 3, 2013. Posted in Videos. 1 Comment on Dr. Norman E. Borlaug

CIMMYT fights hunger and poverty in the developing world through smarter agriculture. We are the world’s number one caretaker and developer of maize and wheat, two of humanity’s most vital crops. Maize and wheat are grown on 200 million hectares in developing countries. 84 million of those hectares are planted with varieties of CIMMYT seed. We also maintain the world’s largest maize and wheat seed bank at our headquarters in Mexico.

We are probably best known for prompting the Green Revolution, which saved millions of lives across Asia and led to CIMMYT’s Norman Borlaug receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Because of population growth, natural resource degradation, and climate change the current challenge is to feed more people, with less resources, and in a more environmentally responsible way than ever before. It can be done.

CIMMYT at the 1st Agro-biodiversity and Agro-products Fair

Written by on September 27, 2012. Posted in News.

2012-09-08-15.22.26 National Service Seed Inspection and Certification (SNICS) and National Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SINAREFI) organized the first Agro-biodiversity and Agroproducts Fair in Xochitla Ecological Park, Tepozotlan, Mexico, during 7-8 September 2012, to promote conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of crop species which originated in Mexico (maize, squash, bean, avocado, tejocote, poinsettia, and vanilla). Production techniques, crop diversity, biodiversity, handicraft, agro-industrial processing, and culinary products were demonstrated to a large audience of farmers, educators, private entrepreneurs, policy-makers, donors, and international institutions representatives.

2012-09-08-15.30.06 CIMMYT participated in the fair through its Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative under the Genetic Resources Program. Martha Willcox (SeeD maize phenotyping coordinator) and Carolina Saint Pierre (SeeD wheat phenotyping coordinator) presented maize and wheat collections from the CIMMYT genebank and a poster prepared by Paulina González and Bibiana Espinosa from the germplasm bank emphasizing the importance of seed conservation and its long-term benefits for humanity. CIMMYT team was also represented by Isabel Peña, Institutional Relations Head, who provided visitors with information on CIMMYT. The CIMMYT booth was visited by many students, professors, and farmers. The students and professors expressed a particular interest in CIMMYT’s publications on maize and wheat diseases, conservation agriculture, the SeeD initiative, breeding for drought and low nitrogen tolerance, breeding of native maize (criollos), and grain storage techniques. Farmers were mostly interested in CIMMYT maize collections samples. They also shared their experience working with different types of maize.

The Fair’s program included many interesting presentations. SINAREFI highlighted their conservation networks including custodian farmers of native maize in the states of Sinaloa and Oaxaca. The farmers brought maize ears to demonstrate maize races they produce and maintain on their farms, and discussed the advantages of the dynamic on-site conservation system which allows for farmer selection and adaptation to changing environments. Other members of the agricultural research community were present at the Fair to discuss their recent research activities and demonstrate their products.

The Fair provided opportunities for interaction with local farmers and students from different parts of Mexico, and demonstrated various agro-products and sustainable technologies. CIMMYT’s participation raised public awareness of CIMMYT’s work and created a closer relationship with SNICS and SINAREFI.

Defining priorities for quality research in native maize

Written by on June 6, 2012. Posted in News.

In order to define the research priorities for the Seeds of Discovery initiative in maize quality of landraces (a Strategic Initiative of both CRPs MAIZE and WHEAT funded by Mexico), a diverse group of food scientists, chemists, maize breeders, genebank curators, social scientists, and representatives of research institutions such as UNAM and Chapingo, met for a workshop to discuss future research on quality characteristics within native Mexican maize.

Held during 23-24 April 2012, at Mansión del Quijote, the workshop recognized the need to preserve cultural customs and identify market niches in order to ensure the conservation and use of germplasm. Many native maize landraces are grown by farmers for specific culinary uses. Tlayudas, for example, are normally prepared using native maize from Raza bolita, whilst Pozole is only prepared with pozolero maize belonging to the ancho, cacahuacintle, and eloteros occidentales races. These culinary and cultural niches are not easily filled by standard
commercial hybrids.

The workshop was organized by Martha Willcox (Genetic Resources Program) and Natalia Palacios (Global Maize Program). “We wanted to prioritize specific uses and areas of research,” said Natalia Palacios. “By discussing state of the art research on quality, germplasm conservation
and characterization, and the uses and applications of landraces, we were able to identify some starting points for further research,” she added. Whilst a great deal of work has focused on landrace quality, much of this research has gone undocumented. Therefore, one of the key focuses for 2012 will be on data analysis, documentation, and publication.

“Overall, we hope to identify and characterize accessions with exceptional quality parameters to be used in breeding, both at the landrace level and to introgress into improved breeding lines, in order to provide an economic benefit to farmers,” stated Martha Willcox.