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research: Genetic resources

China’s wheat production critical to global food security

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Zhonghu He is country representative in China for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT), and Qiaosheng Zhuang is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS).

China’s domestic agricultural activities are vital to ensuring food security for its 1.4 billion people and – as the world’s largest wheat producer – the country plays a major role in shaping international markets.

China produces about 120 million metric tons (265 million pounds) of wheat each year – on approximately 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of land, an area similar to the size of Algeria, according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Wheat makes up 40 percent of grain consumption in China and about 60 percent of the country’s population eats the grain daily.

Cultivated wheat, which was likely introduced to China in the late 6th to early 5th millennium B.C., is the second most important food crop in China after rice. It is the dominant staple food in the northern part of the country where it is used mainly to produce noodles and steamed bread.

In present-day China, more than 95 percent of wheat is sown in the autumn. A double cropping system is used in the Yellow River and Huai River valleys in which wheat is rotated with maize. In the Yangtze Valley it is rotated with rice.

Chinese wheat matures early, so two crops can be harvested each year.

Wheat in China is also exceptionally resistant to high temperatures during the grain filling stage, during which kernel size is determined, as well as such diseases as head scab, septoria and karnal bunt. The wheat cultivar Sumai 3, a plant selected by breeders for its desirable characteristics, is used globally as a source for improving scab resistance.

Current Challenges

Demand for wheat in China is growing due to population increase and rising living standards, but production is challenged by water scarcity, environmental contamination, rising temperatures, droughts, labor shortages and land-use shifts from grain production to cash crops.

Researchers anticipate that in the near future the consumption of homemade steamed bread and raw noodles will decrease in favor of western-style breads and pastries.

Breeding for high-yield potential remains the first priority, as the available planting area for wheat is unlikely to increase.

Overall breeding goals include increasing grain yield, while maintaining genetic gains already made by scientists in grain yield and improving the processing quality without increasing needed inputs to grow healthy crops.

Conventional breeding – in which wheat plants with desirable, or “elite” traits are selected and used as “parents” for subsequent generations – has been in use for more than a hundred years. The technique, combined with an increased application of biotechnology, will continue to play a leading role in wheat variety development.

In addition to powdery mildew and yellow rust, Fusarium head blight has migrated to the main wheat regions in northern China due to climate change and the continuous practice of wheat and maize rotation, posing a major threat to wheat production. Other diseases, such as sharp eyespot and take-all, are also becoming increasingly troublesome as scientists try to increase grain yields. Wheat in the area has a very low resistance to scab, which is creating another challenge.

Scientific Innovation

It is important that foreign germplasm – the genetic resources of an organism – from international research centers and alien genes from wild relative species be explored as potential sources of multiple-disease resistance.

In order to reduce inputs for wheat production, it is essential to breed varieties with higher water, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (N) fertilizer use efficiencies, but this must be combined with high-yielding potential.

Drought tolerance for wheat grown in rain-fed areas must be strengthened, because varieties with drought tolerance and better water-use efficiency are already urgently needed.

Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:Zhonghu He and Alain P.A. Bonjean, 2010. Cereals in China, Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Zhonghu He, Xianchun Xia a, Shaobing Peng, Thomas Adam Lumpkin, 2014. Meeting demands for increased cereal production in China, Journal of Cereal Science, 59: 235-244.

Fahong Wang，Zhonghu He, Ken Sayre, Shengdong Li, Jisheng Si, Bo Feng, Lingan Kong,2009. Wheat cropping systems and technologies in China, Field Crop Research, 111: 181-188.

Under altered conditions driven by climate change, planting dates have been delayed by 10 days over the last 20 years, but maturity has remained basically unchanged. Climate-resilient varieties are needed.

New genes and genetic resources must be explored with novel tools to realize higher genetic gains. Gene-specific markers will play an important role in facilitating the genes for disease resistance and quality. Genetically modified wheat could offer potential tools in reducing damage from head scab and aphids.

Crop management must play an important role in increasing wheat production. Low-cost farming practices are needed so that wheat can be more competitive in the financial markets and new cropping systems must be suited to machinery operation. International collaboration has contributed significantly to improving Chinese wheat research and development capacity.

The government of China considers the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) an important strategic partner in wheat research and continues to work closely with CIMMYT and other international partners to meet future wheat demands.

Mexican university students attend eighth annual CIMMYT open house

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On 19 September CIMMYT-El Batán held the eighth annual Open House for 300 Mexican students from the states of Puebla, Querétaro, Michoacán, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, State of Mexico and Distrito Federal. Students visited CIMMYT field demonstration plots of Maize, Wheat and Conservation Agriculture, and visited the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center and the biosciences complex (biotechnology, maize and wheat nutrition and quality labs).

Participating universities include:

  • Universidad de Guadalajara
  • Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
  • Universidad de Querétaro
  • Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo
  • Universidad Tecnológica de San Miguel de Allende
  • Centro de Bachillerato Tecnológico (CBT)
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma
  • Colegio de Postgraduados
  • Universidad Tecnológica de Tehuacán
  • Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores Monterrey, Campus Morelia

China’s wheat production critical to global food security

Written by on . Posted in Features.

China’s Wheat Production Critical to Global Food Security

Zhonghu He is country representative in China for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT), and Qiaosheng Zhuang is a professor at the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS).

China’s domestic agricultural activities are vital to ensuring food security for its 1.4 billion people and – as the world’s largest wheat producer – the country plays a major role in shaping international markets.

China produces about 120 million metric tons (265 million pounds) of wheat each year – on approximately 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of land, an area similar to the size of Algeria, according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Wheat makes up 40 percent of grain consumption in China and about 60 percent of the country’s population eats the grain daily.

Cultivated wheat, which was likely introduced to China in the late 6th to early 5th millennium B.C., is the second most important food crop in China after rice. It is the dominant staple food in the northern part of the country where it is used mainly to produce noodles and steamed bread.

In present-day China, more than 95 percent of wheat is sown in the autumn. A double cropping system is used in the Yellow River and Huai River valleys in which wheat is rotated with maize. In the Yangtze Valley it is rotated with rice.

Chinese wheat matures early, so two crops can be harvested each year.

Wheat in China is also exceptionally resistant to high temperatures during the grain filling stage, during which kernel size is determined, as well as such diseases as head scab, septoria and karnal bunt. The wheat cultivar Sumai 3, a plant selected by breeders for its desirable characteristics, is used globally as a source for improving scab resistance.

Current Challenges

Demand for wheat in China is growing due to population increase and rising living standards, but production is challenged by water scarcity, environmental contamination, rising temperatures, droughts, labor shortages and land-use shifts from grain production to cash crops.

Researchers anticipate that in the near future the consumption of homemade steamed bread and raw noodles will decrease in favor of western-style breads and pastries.

Breeding for high-yield potential remains the first priority, as the available planting area for wheat is unlikely to increase.

Overall breeding goals include increasing grain yield, while maintaining genetic gains already made by scientists in grain yield and improving the processing quality without increasing needed inputs to grow healthy crops.

Conventional breeding – in which wheat plants with desirable, or “elite” traits are selected and used as “parents” for subsequent generations – has been in use for more than a hundred years. The technique, combined with an increased application of biotechnology, will continue to play a leading role in wheat variety development.

In addition to powdery mildew and yellow rust, Fusarium head blight has migrated to the main wheat regions in northern China due to climate change and the continuous practice of wheat and maize rotation, posing a major threat to wheat production. Other diseases, such as sharp eyespot and take-all, are also becoming increasingly troublesome as scientists try to increase grain yields. Wheat in the area has a very low resistance to scab, which is creating another challenge.

Scientific Innovation

It is important that foreign germplasm – the genetic resources of an organism – from international research centers and alien genes from wild relative species be explored as potential sources of multiple-disease resistance.

In order to reduce inputs for wheat production, it is essential to breed varieties with higher water, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (N) fertilizer use efficiencies, but this must be combined with high-yielding potential.

Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:

Zhonghu He and Alain P.A. Bonjean, 2010. Cereals in China, Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Zhonghu He, Xianchun Xia a, Shaobing Peng, Thomas Adam Lumpkin, 2014. Meeting demands for increased cereal production in China, Journal of Cereal Science, 59: 235-244.

Fahong Wang，Zhonghu He, Ken Sayre, Shengdong Li, Jisheng Si, Bo Feng, Lingan Kong,2009. Wheat cropping systems and technologies in China, Field Crop Research, 111: 181-188.

Drought tolerance for wheat grown in rain-fed areas must be strengthened, because varieties with drought tolerance and better water-use efficiency are already urgently needed.

Under altered conditions driven by climate change, planting dates have been delayed by 10 days over the last 20 years, but maturity has remained basically unchanged. Climate-resilient varieties are needed.

New genes and genetic resources must be explored with novel tools to realize higher genetic gains. Gene-specific markers will play an important role in facilitating the genes for disease resistance and quality. Genetically modified wheat could offer potential tools in reducing damage from head scab and aphids.

Crop management must play an important role in increasing wheat production. Low-cost farming practices are needed so that wheat can be more competitive in the financial markets and new cropping systems must be suited to machinery operation. International collaboration has contributed significantly to improving Chinese wheat research and development capacity.

The government of China considers the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) an important strategic partner in wheat research and continues to work closely with CIMMYT and other international partners to meet future wheat demands.

 

Toluca Experiment Station holds field day for CIMMYT scientists and staff

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A field day was held on 4 September at CIMMYT’s Toluca experiment station to give CIMMYT scientists the opportunity to explain their program objectives and research activities to colleagues who may not have been familiar with their work. Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, 2014 World Food Prize recipient, and several retired CIMMYT employees who had worked with him also attended. Over 100 current and former staff members attended, with one group receiving presentations in English and the other in Spanish.

The day began with a welcome from Hans Braun, director of the Global Wheat Program (GWP), after which the visitors headed out to the fields where GWP’s David Bonnet and Masahiro Kishi presented the work they are doing with hybrids and wide crosses. The term “wide cross” refers to the practice of crossing modern plant varieties with wild plant relatives, in order to create new varieties with desired characteristics.

A presentation on durum and triticale was given by Karim Ammar, GWP wheat breeder, who explained the importance of the Toluca experiment station, where the last visual check of plants occurs before going to field trial. Carlos Guzman, a post-doctoral fellow at CIMMYT in GWP’s Wheat Quality Laboratory, presented on the different varieties of wheat, their properties and the resulting products. At the end of the presentation, samples of bread and cookies created using CIMMYT wheat were given to participants.

The activities of the Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) project were presented by Sukhwinder Singh, wheat lead for SeeD, and Carolina Saint Pierre, genetic resources (wheat) phenotyping coordinator for SeeD. They explained their work on phenotyping, which involves screening seeds for different accessions, diseases and properties. Pavan Singh, wheat rust pathologist and molecular breeder in the GWP and head of pathology, discussed the various diseases that challenge wheat production today and their locations.

Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram (far right) speaks alongside other former CIMMYT Global Wheat Program colleagues. Photo: Suzanne Lundin-Ross

Ravi Singh, wheat breeder in GWP’s Bread Wheat Improvement and Rust, led the presentation on bread wheat, highlighting the fact that 95 percent of wheat farmers grow bread wheat on over 220 million hectares of the world’s farmland. Afterwards, Maria Tattaris, post-doctoral researcher, Mariano Cossani and Gemma Molero, associate scientists, presented on the Wheat Physiology Program and distributed the program’s most recent publications to the visitors.

Michael Mulvaney of the Global Conservation Agriculture (CA) Program (GCAP) presented on the three main principles of CA – minimal tillage, keeping soil covered with organic matter and rotation. He also discussed the economic and ecological benefits farmers can gain from adopting these practices. Lastly, staff members of the Maize Genetic Resources Center spoke on their activities and gave a manual pollination demonstration.

After the presentations, the visiting staff members returned to the Toluca station for a delicious lunch of carne asada and esquites provided by Toluca superintendent Fernando Delgado and his staff. Dr. Rajaram gave a speech during the luncheon, and invited the retired CIMMYT employees in attendance to stand with him as he spoke on CIMMYT’s past and his hopes for its future. “CIMMYT’s greatest strength is its human resources,” he said, and thanked them for their contributions to the Center.

University of Wisconsin students experience Mexico’s maize and culture

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The University of Wisconsin students met smallholder farmers in Toluca to view their practices first-hand. Photos: Luis Castilla Zetina/CIMMYT

On 9 August CIMMYT-El Batán welcomed a group of 22 students and three teachers from the University of Wisconsin for a week-long stay. The students are enrolled in the university’s course for a Global Health Certificate, which introduces students to a preventive, population-level, interdisciplinary approach to health promotion. According to organizers, the trip to CIMMYT served to “open the eyes of the students to the importance of agriculture and nutrition.”

During the last six years, Dr. Sherry A. Tanumihardjo has visited CIMMYT with students to expose them to the realities of Mexican maize and wheat production systems, as well as how the Center’s research is helping smallholder farmers increase their productivity and improve their livelihoods. During the program’s first day, CIMMYT specialists presented the work being done at the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center and the Seeds of Discovery initiative, as well as the objectives and strategies being pursued by the Maize, Wheat and Conservation Agriculture programs.

Genetic Resources Director Dr. Kevin Pixley led a discussion to help the students make sense of the different areas seen during the day and how they all work together to fulfill CIMMYT’s mission. On their second day, the group traveled to the Tlaltizapán experiment station, where Dr. Oscar Bañuelos explained the work being done in the Tripsacum ex situ conservation garden, while Thanda Dhliwayo described in detail the work that is being conducted with biofortified maize.

Later, the group travelled to Cuernavaca to learn about the work being done to reduce Mexico’s obesity and malnutrition problems by Dr. Salvador Villalpando, director of the National Institute of Public Health. On Wednesday, the group continued their cultural tour, visiting the National Museum of Anthropology and the Mexico City Historic Center. Previously, María Elena Campos had taken them to the pyramids in Teotihuacán so the visitors could get a better sense of Mexico, its origins and its rich history. The day ended at the Palace of Fine Arts (Palacio de Bellas Artes), where everyone had a chance to relax and enjoy a production of the Ballet Folklórico de México.

Óscar Bañuelos demonstrates maize pollination.

On Thursday, the students visited the Toluca experiment station and were welcomed by Fernando Delgado, senior station superintendent. After briefly explaining what CIMMYT does in Toluca, Delgado took them to meet local farmers, where the students had the opportunity to watch, listen and talk to some of the people that CIMMYT serves, and to gain a better understanding of their problems and needs.

On their last day, the group visited the Santa Catarina field with Arturo Reyes Ramírez and learned about the nixtamalization process from Estela Flores. The experience had a strong impact on the students, who learned first-hand about Mexican maize production and consumption processes, from the fields to the dining table. They left with a greater understanding of how important maize is, not only as food, but also as a cultural phenomenon. Visits like this raise awareness about the importance of the research and work being done at CIMMYT. The students from the University of Wisconsin take home a powerful memory of the work that CIMMYT does to help the world’s poor farmers.

Genetic Resources and Bioinformatics

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Genetic resources and bioinformatics are the responsibility of the Genetic Resources Program (GRP). It contributes to CIMMYT’s overall mission of increasing crop productivity to improve food security and improve livelihoods by storing, analyzing and disseminating the world’s largest collection of maize and wheat genetic resources, which are contained in the Wellhausen-Andersen Genetic Resources Center. The Center is one of only three ISO-certified seed banks in the world and the only one in North America. In its maize and wheat gene banks, seeds are held in trust for humanity under the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Moreover, CIMMYT seed is made freely available to researchers and national agriculture institutions around the globe.

GRP scientists and staff work to provide healthy, viable seed and reliable information from the maize and wheat genetic resources collections and are responsible for more than 175,000 accessions. Their work enhances the use of maize and wheat genetic resources through research and technology, excellence in data stewardship and the creation of tools and methods that enable CIMMYT and its partners to readily use the available information.

The GRP consists of various units that work in tandem to achieve CIMMYT’S goals:

The Seed Health Laboratory staff members work on the safe exchange of wheat and maize seed around the world and are responsible for thousands of exchanges of maize and wheat samples annually.

The Biometrics and Statistics Unit provides service, research and training for CIMMYT and its partners, including methodology-model solutions, statistical analyses and experiment designs. A data stewardship approach strives for responsible stewardship and provides open access to CIMMYT’s seed data and the knowledge derived from it. Through this approach data standards, documentation, curation processes and timelines are established to coordinate the receipt, storage, manipulation and quality control of field and molecular data. It also enables accurate data documentation and storage throughout the analysis pipeline, versatile institutional databases and repositories, interfaces, output and informatic tools that are used by scientists and research assistants, reporting back the user requirements to CIMMYT’s software engineers in order to achieve continuous improvement of these tools.

CIMMYT recognizes that sustainably meeting the growing global demand for food may require the responsible use all of the available technologies, including genetically modified (GM) varieties of maize and wheat. Applying the practice of “sovereignty and safety first,” each nation will determine when and how GM crops will be used in their territory and this will require a legal and regulatory framework to be in place before any work can be done in this area (see CIMMYT’s guiding principles). CIMMYT is a member of “Excellence Through Stewardship,” which “promotes the universal adoption of stewardship programs and quality management systems for the responsible use and management of biotechnology-derived plant products.”

The Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative systematically explores and mobilizes genetic variation in CIMMYT’s and other gene bank collections into maize and wheat breeding programs to increase productivity resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses such as heat, drought and disease.

The GRP’s activities can be summarized as:

  • Conservation, characterization, distribution and use of genetic resources.
  • Safe distribution of seed.
  • Stewardship and ensuring open-access to CIMMYT’s data and derived information.
  • Creation of quality, open-source software.
  • Development and validation of new tools and methods for gene mining and crop improvement.
  • Capacity building in all of these areas.

 

 

CIMMYT and CIBIOGEM hold symposium on transgenics and society

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CIMMYT, CIBIOGEM and the North Carolina State University (NCSU) transgenics and society group joined together at CIMMYT headquarters on 24 July for the symposium “Transgenics and Society: Towards a constructive dialogue that contributes to policies and regulatory frameworks.” The event was organized to highlight the importance of scientific and moral considerations surrounding individuals’ and hence society’s perspectives about transgenic crops and other emerging technologies.

Secretary for Information and Research Support of CIBIOGEM Dr. Laura Tovar Castillo, welcomed participants on behalf of Dr. Sol Ortiz García, Executive Secretary of CIBIOGEM, and highlighted the importance of this symposium and of achieving constructive dialogue about transgenic technologies. Nearly 1 billion people are suffering from hunger and poverty worldwide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Photo: CIMMYT

Kevin Pixley, director of the CIMMYT Genetics Resources Program, opened the event with a quote from Megan Clark, CEO of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO): “In the next 50 years we will need to produce as much food as has been consumed over our entire human history.”

Climate change, depleted natural resources and overpopulation are just a few of the problems contributing to worldwide food insecurity. Pixley noted that this requires us to make a difference worldwide. “How are we going to help these people survive?” asked CIMMYT director general Tom Lumpkin in his welcome to participants. “CIMMYT is in favor of the technology of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Though I do say that with words of caution, because we do want to support the developing world with access to this technology, but it is possible to make a bad GMO. I’ve traveled all around the world and seen lax handling of GMOs.”

The discussion was separated into two sessions. CIMMYT staff can view the presentations on InSide CIMMYT. The first session was led by Fred Gould, NCSU professor of entomology and transgenics. Gould’s presentation was titled “The Past, Present and Future of Genetic Engineering Technologies,” and discussed the past marketing of genetically engineered products, new technologies and the possibilities of many new GM technologies. Jennifer Kuzma, co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Program at NCSU, finished the first session with a discussion on the governance of genetically engineered organisms and how they are regulated in different countries. “We need to find a middle approach to incorporate values and science in the governance of genetically engineered organisms,” said Kuzma in a wrapup of her presentation.

The second half of the symposium presented the perspective of professionals who have deep ties in Mexican agriculture and also are concerned about the personal and moral issues that influence perceptions about GMOs. Presenters included: Concepción Rodríguez Maciel, associate researcher and professor at the Colegio de Postgraduados; Javier Becerril, professor of economics at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán; and Carolina Camacho, principal researcher in the CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program. The theme that ran through these presentations was the need for transgenic crops in Mexico compared with the difficulty of fully explaining the benefits and concerns of transgenic crops to small-scale farmers. Rodríguez Maciel said: “As a country, we have spent way too much time discussing biotechnology issues. It’s time to integrate all the different types of agriculture to face the challenges that climate change will bring. We do need to remember that we are talking to normal human beings and we need to speak their language.”

Jason Delborne, associate professor of science, policy and society at NCSU, rounded out the discussion with his presentation on how to conduct a productive and informative dialogue on transgenic research. He has developed a five-step process that is designed to facilitate a formal discussion regarding transgenic research and ease the general public into a conversation about transgenics that leads to productive action. Building on the foundations of this symposium, CIMMYT hopes to contribute to discussions in Mexico and elsewhere that generate better understanding of the scientific and personal perspectives that societies must acknowledge and address in developing their policies about transgenics (and next generations of technologies).

As highlighted by Jason Delborne, the most important step is often asking and addressing the right question, which in many cases during this symposium participants learned was not actually about transgenics. Instead, the right questions might be about conserving biodiversity, enhancing the ecological sustainability of agricultural practices, preserving the right to save grain for planting next crops, offering technologies that are affordable to resource-poor farmers or about how humankind will produce as much food in the next 50 years as has been consumed over the entire history of humanity.

Precision farming down under at the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture

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In late June, while the great majority of the conservation agriculture community converged on Winnipeg, Canada, in the Northern Hemisphere, Dr. Francelino Rodrigues, a CIMMYT post-doctoral fellow in precision agriculture in the Biometric and Statistics Unit of the Genetic Resources Program, and Dr. Jack McHugh, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist in the Global Conservation Agriculture Program, ventured into the much colder Southern Hemisphere to take part in the Digital Rural Futures Conference at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

Although the conference itself held considerable incentive to visit Australia, it was the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) at USQ that was of greater interest, because of the possibilities for future collaborations in precision farming research and development (R&D). The NCEA was established in 1994 and specializes in engineering research relevant to the agribusiness sector and the natural resource base it utilizes. The center promotes research through extension, training and commercialization. Having worked at NCEA prior to CIMMYT, McHugh thought there were benefits in closer collaboration between CIMMYT and NCEA to take advantage of the precision agriculture R&D being conducted there.

Prior to the conference, Rodrigues and McHugh presented their work from Mexico and China, respectively, to NCEA staff. The discussion highlighted the complementary nature of the two organizations in the areas of precision agriculture, field monitoring, smart technologies and remote sensing. A tour of the NCEA ‘smart farms’ was the highlight of the conference for McHugh, who was able to see that much of his earlier work had been developed into significant applied instrumentation.

Rodrigues commented on the versitile multi-proximal sensor platform developed by McHugh at the NCEA: “The platform [on a motorbike] allows simultaneously on-the-go measurements of apparent soil electro-conductivity and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which gives a tremendous advantage compared with stop-and-go measurements. It’s something we started to do with a wood sled in the past year at CIMMYT’s experiment station in Obregón, but the motorbike would definitely create a new opportunity for fast and efficient measurements during crop growth.”

According to the NCEA, the farming system of the future will have robotic sensing systems and decision support tools that interface seamlessly with commercial on-farm operations to optimize resource usage. The NCEA is working on components of this, but much of what the CIMMYT researchers saw could be applied immediately to current farming systems and already includes considerable integration. Some of the systems displayed were controlled remotely by tablets and interfaced on large screen monitors that displayed real-time feedback of sensors, machinery and field activities including the following: smart weed spot sprayers that are able to differentiate crops from weeds based on reflectance and leaf shape; aerial vehicles with multispectral and thermal sensors; and irrigation monitoring for water scheduling.

Smart weed spot sprayer working with reflectance and leaf shapes to differentiate crops from weeds.

Other sensors on display included NDVI sensor platforms, automated cone penetrometers, sensor-equipped bee traps and automated adaptive control of furrow irrigation systems. Of particular note was the augmented reality (AR) for real-time interactivity with on-farm devices and information. AR automatically filters information from online sources based on the user’s current location and viewing perspective, using the camera in a tablet or smartphone. AR markers in the ‘real-world’ (e.g., weather stations, pumps, field sensors, crops and more) can be discovered and online information can be retrieved. The data is merged into the device’s real-world observation, and the user can interact with the content to control and configure machinery. The next step is to build collaboration between both institutes. McHugh and Rodrigues are looking forward to the identification and application of the NCEA technology through future research exchanges and project development.

Gupta Is new Director General of Borlaug Institute for South Asia

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Hari S. Gupta was selected as the second Director General (DG) of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in India and assumed his new position on August 7th. BISA, named to honor Dr. Norman E. Borlaug (1914-2009), world-renowned agricultural scientist and 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is helping to meet food security and sustainable productivity growth in both irrigated and rain-fed production areas by adapting wheat and maize systems to the emerging challenges of climate change, natural resource scarcity and market demands. While working at CIMMYT and its predecessor organization, Borlaug’s development of high-yielding, dwarf varieties of wheat helped trigger the Green Revolution in the 1960s. BISA was established in 2011 to catalyze agricultural research for development (AR4D) in South Asia and is a non-profit international agricultural research institute founded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CIMMYT, and managed by the latter.

According to Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General, who also served concurrently as the first DG of BISA, “The challenge today is to increase yields of staple crops in South Asia despite the fact that climate change, population growth, dietary changes and natural resource degradation all pose enormous challenges to agriculture.” BISA was created to “address the challenges head on,” added Lumpkin. Providing food and nutritional security is “a daunting task” and the region needs “a dedicated, world-class effort focused entirely on these problems.” Lumpkin stated, “To lead BISA’s work on those problems, Dr. Gupta was chosen from a field of very qualified candidates. We anticipate that he will be a very strong DG for BISA and will lead it into its next phase.”

Photo: Courtesy of Indian Agricultural Research Institute

Prior to joining BISA, Gupta served for almost five and one-half years as Director and Vice Chancellor of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), one of the largest agricultural research institutes in Asia. With 10 centers spread across India, IARI is the flagship research institute of ICAR and is known globally as the institution that was instrumental in spreading the Green Revolution across India. During the Green Revolution, Borlaug and regional scientists, policymakers and farmers in South Asia took India and Pakistan from near-famine in 1965-1966 to food self-sufficiency. Dr. Borlaug’s work in AR4D is credited with saving 1 billion people from hunger and malnutrition, and many were in South Asia. However, Borlaug correctly predicted that the Green Revolution boost in food production could not last, and was only a reprieve for humanity to adapt more sustainable systems and policies for managing population growth and use of natural resources.

Describing the goals he will focus on as DG of BISA, Gupta stated, “In order to usher a second Green Revolution in South Asia, improving crop productivity in conjunction with efficient use of natural resources – especially of soil and water – will be my top priority. In addition, reducing the vulnerability of South Asian agriculture to climate change will be addressed with an emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Climate change, ever-increasing population, persistent poverty, chronic malnutrition and declining annual crop yield gains are retarding human development across South Asia.

Despite notable progress over the past several decades, South Asia is still home to more than 300 million undernourished people (35 percent of the global total). Food price spikes exacerbate these issues and make the lives of South Asia’s poorest even more difficult. Because of these issues, Gupta said, “Increasing the system productivity per unit area and time with conservation of natural resources is BISA’s guiding principle. Development of technology for rain-fed areas will receive priority whereas sustaining the gains made in irrigated areas will help in meeting the region’s short-term needs for food and feed.” He continued, stating, “In order to make agriculture more efficient in South Asia, mechanization – particularly using renewable sources of energy in farm operations – will be pursued vigorously. My experience at IARI will help me to work with others to implement the programs rapidly and efficiently.” Prior to joining IARI, Gupta worked for a number of agricultural research organizations, including serving as: director, Vivekanand Institute of Hill Agriculture, or VPKAS (2000-09); principal scientist and head of the Division of Plant Breeding, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region (1989-99); senior scientist, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region (1983-89); and scientist, Central Potato Research Institute (1978-83). Gupta earned his M.Sc. in genetics at GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology in Pant Nagar, India. He earned his Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal.

Among the highlights of his post-doctoral research are: Rockefeller Foundation Career Fellow in 2003 and 2006 at Washington State University (WSU) on the genetic engineering of rice for increasing starch biosynthesis; visiting scientist at WSU, working on the induction of early flowering in crop plants in 1993-94; and Commonwealth Scholar in the Department of Life Science at the University of Nottingham (UK) on plant regeneration from protoplast and protoplast-mediated genetic manipulation in rice in 1987-88. Among the honors and recognition that Gupta has received during his career are: President, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (2011-13); Sardar Patel Outstanding Institution Award to IARI during his tenure (2011); ICAR’s Team Award for Outstanding Multidisciplinary Research (2010, 2008 and 1997); Dr. AS Cheema Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Agriculture (2010); Outstanding Institution Award to VPKAS (2008 and 2001) during his tenure as director; ICAR “Hari Om Ashram” Trust Award (2007); NRDC’s Meritorious Invention award (2006); ICAR National Professor (2006); Dr. Rajendra Prasad Award for Best Book in Crop Sciences (2004); and Rockefeller Foundation Career Fellowship (2000). Gupta belongs to numerous professional societies, including: Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding; Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Fellow, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding; Fellow, Indian Society of Agricultural Biochemists; founding member, Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology; and life member of the Indian Societies of the Biological Chemists, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Hill Agriculture and Seed Science.

About BISA

BISA is developing a state-of-theart agricultural research platform, technology transfer centers and training facilities. BISA’s focus is on holistic, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to breeding, conservation agriculture and socioeconomics for wheat- and maizebased cropping and food systems. BISA’s facilities and formal institutional partnerships can create a world-class research infrastructure and lead to strategic collaborations among regional and international scientists, as well as public and private stakeholders across the region’s agricultural value chains.

The Institute closely coordinates and synergizes with CIMMYT and other international centers such as the International Rice Research Institute and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, with national institutions such as ICAR, the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and the Nepal Agriculture Research Council and the private sector within the region. BISA currently has three sites in India – Ludhiana in Punjab State, Pusa in Bihar State and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh State. Each of the states contains varied agro-ecological zones allowing BISA and its partners to test a variety of maize and wheat cultivars suited to the equally varied environments of South Asia. BISA also has site commitments from Nepal and Pakistan and is in discussion with Afghanistan and Bangladesh for sites in those countries. Through BISA, CIMMYT and several national agricultural research systems (NARS) have taken a key step towards sustainable food and nutritional security.

CIMMYT has a long, successful history of partnerships in South Asia, playing an important role with regional partners in catalyzing the Green Revolution. The NARS have demonstrated their commitment to regional food and nutritional security, and recognized the contribution that BISA, an independent, non-profit organization with broad international backing, can make to strengthen existing efforts in the region. BISA’s role in strengthening South Asia’s food and nutritional security focuses on leveraging and accelerating efforts rather than duplicating or competing with existing institutions. BISA fills the most critical gap in present efforts in South Asia – an impartial coordinating platform for discovery and sharing information and technologies.

BISA’s primary focus is to strengthen capability-sharing through the collaborative execution of AR4D projects. This increase in resource productivity should increase food and nutritional security, environmental protection and economic development. BISA is also strengthening the links between national and international efforts, building capacity in the region’s scientific community and introducing the best seed, agricultural technologies and information to improve the productivity and profitability of the region’s smallholder farmers and agricultural value chains.

Indian organizations honor Rajaram for World Food Prize win

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By Gurdev Singh/CIMMYT

Dr. S. Ayyappan, director general of ICAR, honored Rajaram as “the best living wheat scientist in the world today.”

Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was on board a flight to New Delhi on 18 June when he was announced as the recipient of the 2014 World Food Prize (WFP). Upon landing, he was given a warm welcome by his close associates in India, Dr. O.P. Shringi and Sanjaya Chhabra of DCM Shriram Ltd. and others, who informed him of the official announcement. After spending some quality time with his family in his hometown of Varanasi, he had a completely new itinerary for his visit that involved several congratulatory events at agriculture-related institutes and organizations.

Rajaram has been working closely with DCM   Shriram Ltd. in New Delhi since 2005 on its wheat project. Sovan Chakrabarty, the business head and executive director, congratulated Rajaram in the traditional Indian way, with a shawl and a bouquet, in the presence of the Shriram Farm Solutions team members.­ Shringi said the firm took pride in being the first to receive and honor Rajaram after the official W­­­FP announcement. During the ceremony, Rajaram said he is a strong proponent of public-private partnerships for food security and increasing wheat productivity in India. He applauded Shriram Farm Solutions’ excellent famer delivery mechanism and the progress it has made in developing and marketing new wheat varieties in a very short time.

At the request of Dr. R. R. Hanchinal, chairperson of Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Authority at the National Seed Institute of India, Rajaram attended a function at the National Agriculture Science Center Complex. Dr. S. Ayyappan, director general of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and the chief guest, honored Rajaram as “the best living wheat scientist in the world today,” and Hanchinal shared his achievements with a select group of scientists and authorities from Indian agricultural universities and institutions.

Children of DWR staff members joined Dr. Indu Sharma, director of DWR, to welcome Rajaram with waving flags.

The Indian Agriculture Research Institute in New Delhi, where Rajaram earned his master’s degree in genetics and plant breeding, also held a function. The director, Dr. H.S. Gupta, lauded Rajaram’s contributions and congratulated him for being selected to receive the most prestigious prize in agriculture.

In a speech to several distinguished scientists, Rajaram emphasized the need to address the productivity problems in the eastern part of the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Rajaram has been a regular visitor at Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana, so the vice chancellor, Dr. B.S.  Dhillon, invited Rajaram to an event in his honor.  Dr. Darshan Singh Brar, former head of plant breeding, biotechnology and biochemistry at the International Rice Research Institute, and Dr. Gurdev Singh, a former professor at the university and adviser to DCM Shriram Ltd., were special guests. Rajaram took time to interact with the faculty, particularly Dr. Kuldeep Singh, director of biotechnology, and his Ph.D. students.

Dr. Indu Sharma, director of DWR, presented a memento to Rajaram during an event held in his honor.

Dr. Indu Sharma, director of ICAR’s Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), organized a large event for Rajaram’s visit to DWR on 27 June. Sharma joined a group of staff members’ children to welcome Rajaram by waving flags, and then she shared some fond memories in a staff meeting of him interacting with Indian wheat scientists in the field.  The DWR staff gave Rajaram a standing ovation for his unparalleled contribution to wheat production, particularly in Asia. Dr. A.K. Srivastava, director of the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal, offered hearty congratulations and opined that wheat varieties with slightly more biomass would be handy in providing much-needed fodder for milking animals.

Addressing the audience, Rajaram congratulated the Indian wheat researchers for achieving remarkable wheat production again this year, and he emphasized the need to develop human resources and train the younger generations to work hard in the fields in an interactive mode. He also discussed the important issue of post-harvest handling and storage facilities in India. He then planted a tree at DWR’s new compound in Karnal.

CIMMYT to conduct exchange program with Chinese Agricultural University

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By Karen Willenbrecht/CIMMYT

Chinese scientists will have more opportunities to learn from and apply CIMMYT’s research thanks to an agreement signed 16 June between CIMMYT and Yunnan Agricultural University.

High-level representatives from the university visited CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico as the first step in establishing a cooperative relationship that will benefit agricultural technology development in China’s Yunnan Province a major agricultural area in the far southwest of the country.

Photos: Xochiquetzal Fonseca
Photos: Xochiquetzal Fonseca

The province spans approximately 394,000 square kilometers (152,000 square miles) and has a population of more than 46 million. Zhang Haixiang, chairman of Yunnan Agricultural University, expressed eagerness to collaborate with CIMMYT in several areas, including an exchange program for young scientists and professors.

He noted that the climate in Yunnan Province is similar to El Batán’s and hoped CIMMYT researchers could share their experience of breeding maize and wheat in that environment. He also invited CIMMYT leadership to visit the university, offering a personal tour of its cereal research programs, particularly as they relate to rice, maize and wheat. Marianne Bänziger, deputy director general for research and partnerships, told the delegates CIMMYT staff are interested in strengthening collaboration with China.

“There are more opportunities than currently taken for Chinese students or visiting scientists to gain experiences and contribute to CIMMYT research programs,” she said. “We need champions with CIMMYT and Chinese institutions such as the Yunnan Agricultural University to create those opportunities where our interests align.” A memorandum of understanding was signed by Bänziger and Wen Jun, the university’s deputy chairman of academic affairs, that outlined the collaboration agreement.

During their visit, the delegates met with Dr. Xuecai Zhang, a CIMMYT maize genomic selection breeder; Dr. Lan Caixia and Dr. Yuanfeng Hao of the Global Wheat Program; and Dr. Jiafa Chen of the Seeds of Discovery program. They also visited the Genetic Resources Center, the bioscience complex and the maize and wheat quality labs.

Yunnan Agricultural University is the only agricultural higher education and research organization in Yunnan. The university is home to a key national laboratory for rice biodiversity, a research institute for highland crop development and a rural development institute. CIMMYT has one staff member, Dan Jeffers from the Global Maize Program, based in Yunnan Province and has strong partnerships with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

CIMMYT, Oak Ridge scientists collaborate on food security challenges

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Carissa Wodehouse/CIMMYT

On 20-22 May, CIMMYT hosted a summit with researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a U.S. Department of Energy facility that is the largest multipurpose science laboratory in the U.S. and a committed member of the Knowledge Systems for Sustainability community of practice.

CIMMYT and ORNL began interacting in 2011, with CIMMYT leadership visiting ORNL in 2013. This summit was the formal realization of the commitment between the two groups. Bram Govaerts, associate director of CIMMYT’S Global Conservation Agriculture Program, gave an overview of the necessity for collaboration by referring to a recent National Geographic article, “Feeding 9 Billion,” that offered a five-step plan to sustainably increase the global food supply:

1. Freeze agriculture’s footprint

2. Grow more on the farms we already have

3. Use resources more efficiently

4. Shift diets

5. Reduce waste

Photos: AC Staff

The first four suggestions, Govaerts pointed out, were being directly addressed at the summit. Technology developed at ORNL will play a major role, through the improved use of big data, assessment tools, sensors and controls. One example described by Jay Gulledge, director of ORNL’s Environmental Services Division, is a laser-based infrared computed tomography spectroscopy tool that can read the greenhouse gas emissions of an area.

Virginia Dale, ORNL Corporate Fellow in the Environmental Services Division, addressed how farmers, data specialists and others are having different conversations around the same topics. “When people talk about food security, they mean different things; there’s no agreement in the world.” To create a common starting point, Dale described ORNL’s efforts to determine specific environmental and socioeconomic sustainability indicators that add value to the entire community.

Photos: AC Staff

On the second day, the morning was dedicated to creative, collaborative brainstorming to specify work for each of the five task areas. Stan Wood, senior program officer in the Agricultural Policy and Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, noted a recurring tension among all task groups between focusing on external audiences versus serving internal scientists’ needs. He described how the science community tends to ask for a model, while visitors to the Gates Foundation will ask “so what difference does it make?” Wood suggested focusing both on the practitioners (will it actually be helpful in the field?) and the beneficiaries (are they front and center?) to create a strong human narrative.

Molly Jahn, professor in the Laboratory of Genetics and Department of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reviewed the partnership potential including commercial and media groups, common resources and a focus on near-term rather than hypothetical goals. “We’re on the edge, and not everything we commit to or try works,” she said. “Challenges happen, and that is part of the experiment. Those challenges themselves are deeply informative.”

CIMMYT Director General Tom Lumpkin closed the summit, describing Jahn as “a living matrix maker … she gets us out of our silos.” He continued, “so much could be done if we had all of the data, all of the research projects that have disappeared into paper recycling and digital trash cans.” Acknowledging the senior CIMMYT staff present, Lumpkin emphasized that they are people who have spent time “on the ground, in the villages, who have looked farmers in the face. They can bring a lot to the discussion.”

Indian official visits Borlaug Institute for South Asia

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By Pankaj Singh, H.S. Sidhu and Parvinder Singh/CIMMYT

It was a memorable day for Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) staff when Alok Sikka, deputy director general of natural resource management for the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, visited the BISA research station at Ludhiana.

Visitors at the long-term conservation agriculture trials. Photo: Mandeep Singh

H.S. Sidhu, senior research engineer, and Pankaj Singh, BISA farm manager, welcomed Sikka and described farm development activities. The guests visited the genomic selection trial, a five-year project started in November 2013 that is funded by USAID-Feed the Future, Cornell University and Kansas State University. CIMMYT’s Ravi Valluru described efforts to rapidly develop climate-resilient wheat varieties for South Asia using genomic selection. Through this approach, researchers can predict the best wheat lines, even at the early seedling stages.

The early prediction of important traits and wheat lines can be used to accelerate breeding, leading to the rapid identification and release of high-yielding, heat-tolerant candidate wheat varieties for South Asia with annual genetic gains superior to those obtained through conventional breeding. Later, the visitors saw international nurseries, wheat hybrid trials and the long term conservation agriculture (CA) trial being conducted on the farm. M.L. Jat emphasized that depleted freshwater resources due to rising demand from an increasing population is a serious concern. There is a need for alternative cropping systems with high yields, low irrigation water requirements and high water productivity compared to rice-wheat systems.

Visitors listen to discussion on mechanization.

Sidhu pointed out that relay cropping of wheat in standing cotton is beneficial for farmers. Some progressive farmers are ready to start the relay cropping of wheat in standing cotton, after visiting the long-term CA trial. Jat and Parvinder Singh described trials started in 2013 to test different cultivars with different establishment environments and in different ecologies.

The same trial is being conducted at the three BISA farms, located in different ecologies with six common and four regional varieties. Early results show the need to focus on site-specific recommendations, instead of blanket recommendations for an entire region. Sidhu and Jat described the objectives of the precision water management trial supported by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia project (CSISA) that started in spring 2013. The trials showed impressive results and continued with a maize-maize-pea rotation. Jat said farmers are interested in spring maize due to its high yield potential, but the crop requires more water.

Technology is needed to save water while retaining yields. Finally, Sidhu described second generation CA machinery and emphasized that it can be useful for small landholders.

Seed health facilities upgraded in Turkey

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By Alexey Morgounov/CIMMYT

A grant provided by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (CRP WHEAT) has helped improve seed health facilities in Turkey.

The grant benefited the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP), a cooperative program between the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, CIMMYT and ICARDA. IWWIP develops germplasm for Central and West Asia and facilitates the development and spread of global winter wheat germplasm and related knowledge. IWWIP focuses on wheat mega-environments that are home to about 20 million wheat-dependent poor who make less than US$ 2 a day.

Seed health facilities in Turkey were recently improved thanks to a grant from CRP WHEAT. Photo: CIMMYT

IWWIP operates within the framework of Turkish public research institutes, including the Bahri Dagdas International Agriculture Research Institute. Annually, tens of thousands of envelopes containing improved germplasm are prepared for distribution to IWWIP partners globally. Seed sent from Turkey must meet the highest seed health requirements.

With this in mind, the Bahri Dagdas institute applied for a collaboration grant from CRP WHEAT in 2012 to upgrade its seed health facilities; an effort that could not be funded from the regular IWWIP budget. The grant targeted improvement of infrastructure and facilities as well as staff training. For example, staff member Gul Imriz attended an advanced pathology course at CIMMYT-Mexico and a training event on seed health.

By the start of the 2014 season, the new facility will be fully equipped and ready to use for seed cleaning, washing and treatment. IWWIP acknowledges the contributions of Fatih Ozdemir, director of the Bahri Dagdas International Agriculture Research Institute; Mesut Keser, ICARDA representative in Turkey; Monica Mezzalama, head of CIMMYT’s Seed Health Unit; and Victor Kommerell, CRP WHEAT program manager.

Happy Birthday, Norman Borlaug!

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Today, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center will celebrate what would have been Dr. Norman E. Borlaug’s 100th birthday with the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, which brings together wheat scientists, policymakers, and donor agencies to reflect on the successes of the Green Revolution; the new challenges we are facing in terms of wheat production, environmental sustainability, and food security; and the innovations and partnerships we are going to need to meet those challenges. At the Summit, CIMMYT and Biology Fortified will debut a brand new music video produced by John Boswell of Melodysheep featuring Norman Borlaug and some of his signature phrases, fiery outlook, and passion for using science to make the world a less hungry place.

 
The music video combines archival footage of Dr. Borlaug and an inspiring soundtrack to highlight his tireless fight to bring new, useful technologies to farmers. The problems that motivated Dr. Borlaug are still relevant today, and the music video highlights these issues while showing how people can work toward solving them. Boswell, who produced the popular Symphony of Science music video series, transforms the spoken words of famous scientists into music.

The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security honors the 100th anniversary of the birth and the legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug, a legendary CIMMYT scientist who developed high-yielding, semi-dwarf wheat that is credited with saving over 1 billion people from starvation. The Summit will look back at Borlaug’s legacy as the father of the Green Revolution, which sparked key advances in food production. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through an increased food supply. Borlaug’s wheat varieties were grown in Mexico, Turkey, India and Pakistan, boosting harvests in those countries, avoiding famine in South Asia and sparking widespread adoption of improved crop varieties and farming practices.

In celebration of Dr. Borlaug’s centennial, throughout the year Biology Fortified will produce content – interviews, articles, blog posts, and other interactive features – about wheat and its importance around the world. Biology Fortified will aim to educate about the history and biology of the crop, and spark discussions of critical issues in its future. They will also include videos about how wheat is used in cuisines throughout the world, with recipes that people can try at home.

View the Play Hard video on YouTube.

For more information on the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, visit www.borlaug100.org.