Tag: Norman Borlaug

Experimental stations in Mexico improve global agriculture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q&A with 2019 Women in Triticum awardee Carolina Rivera

Written by Courtney Brantley on March 21, 2019. Posted in News.

Carolina Rivera shakes the hand of Maricelis Acevedo, Associate Director for Science for Cornell University’s Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat Project and WIT mentor, after the announcement of the WIT award winners. — Carolina Rivera (left) shakes the hand of Maricelis Acevedo, Associate Director for Science for Cornell University’s Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat Project and WIT mentor, after the announcement of the WIT award winners.

As a native of Obregon, Mexico, Carolina Rivera has a unique connection to the heart of Norman Borlaug’s wheat fields. She is now carrying on Borlaug’s legacy and working with wheat as a wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and data coordinator with the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP).

Given her talents and passion for wheat research, it is no surprise that Rivera is one of the six recipients of the 2019 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Early Career Award. As a young scientist at CIMMYT, she has already worked to identify new traits associated with the optimization of plant morphology aiming to boost grain number and yield.

The Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Award provides professional development opportunities for women working in wheat. The review panel responsible for the selection of the candidates at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), was impressed by her commitment towards wheat research on an international level and her potential to mentor future women scientists.

Established in 2010, the award is named after Jeanie Borlaug Laube, wheat science advocate and mentor, and daughter of Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. As a winner, Rivera is invited to attend a training course at CIMMYT in Obregon, Mexico, in spring 2020 as well as the BGRI 2020 Technical Workshop, to be held in the UK in June 2020. Since the award’s founding, there are now 50 WIT award winners.

The 2019 winners were announced on March 20 during CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program Visitors’ Week in Obregon.

In the following interview, Rivera shares her thoughts about the relevance of the award and her career as a woman in wheat science.

Q: What does receiving the Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Award mean to you?

I feel very honored that I was considered for the WIT award, especially after having read the inspiring biographies of former WIT awardees. Receiving this award has encouraged me even more to continue doing what I love while standing strong as a woman in science.

It will is a great honor to receive the award named for Jeanie Borlaug, who is a very active advocate for wheat research. I am also very excited to attend the BGRI Technical Workshop next year, where lead breeders and scientists will update the global wheat community on wheat rust research. I expect to see a good amount of women at the meeting!

Q: When did you first become interested in agriculture?

My first real encounter with agriculture was in 2009 when I joined CIMMYT Obregon as an undergraduate student intern. I am originally from Obregon, so I remember knowing about the presence of CIMMYT, Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuario (Inifap) in my city but not really understanding the real importance and impact of the research coming from those institutions. After a few months working at CIMMYT, I became very engrossed in my work and visualized myself as a wheat scientist.

Q: Why is it important to you that there is a strong community of women in agriculture?

We know women play a very important role in agriculture in rural communities, but in most cases they do not get the same rights and recognition as men. Therefore, policies — such as land rights — need to be changed and both women and men need to be educated in gender equity. I think the latter factor is more likely to strengthen communities of women, both new and existing, working in agriculture.

In addition, women should participate more in science to show that agricultural research is an area where various ideas and perspectives are necessary. To achieve this in the long run, policies need to look at current social and cultural practices holding back the advancement of women in their careers.

Q: What are you currently working on with CIMMYT and IWYP?

I am a post-doctoral fellow in CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program where I assist in collaborative projects to improve wheat yield potential funded by IWYP. I am also leading the implementation of IWYP’s international research database, helping to develop CIMMYT’s wheat databases in collaboration with the center’s Genetic Resources Program. Apart from research and data management, I am passionate about offering trainings to students and visitors on field phenotyping approaches.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the agriculture world in 10 years?

In 10 years, I see myself as an independent scientist, generating ideas that contribute to delivering wheat varieties with higher yield potential and better tolerance to heat and drought stresses. I also see myself establishing strategies to streamline capacity building for graduate students in Mexico. At that point, I would also like to be contributing to policy changes in education and funding for science in Mexico.

Cobs & Spikes podcast: Matthew Rouse discusses research on wheat diseases

Written by on October 12, 2018. Posted in Podcasts.

This week the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) launched a new podcast: Cobs & Spikes. This is a space where we’re going to break down complex science into bite-sized, audio-rich explainers. We’re going to have real conversations with experts from around the world who are innovating in the fields of agriculture, food security and nutrition. We’re also going to listen to stories that link CIMMYT’s research with real-world applications.

In this episode, we are celebrating World Food Day, October 16. Also this week, food experts and leaders from around the world are gathering in Iowa for the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony.

Today we’re talking to the recipient of the World Food Prize 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.

Matthew Rouse is a researcher with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Rouse works on developing wheat varieties that are resistant to diseases, and he’s being recognized for his work on Ug99 — a devastating race of stem rust disease. Throughout his career, Rouse has collaborated with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Music credit: Loam by Podington Bear

You can subscribe to Cobs & Spikes on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher and other podcast platforms.

*See our coverage of the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize.*

Matthew Rouse shows how to score wheat seedlings for stem rust resistance, at the Njoro research station in Kenya in 2009. (Photo: Petr Kosina/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT collaborator wins Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application

Written by on September 4, 2018. Posted in News.

Matthew Rouse, a researcher with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has been named the winner of the 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. Rouse is recognized for his essential leadership efforts to contain and reduce the impact of Ug99, a devastating new race of the stem rust pathogen that poses a serious threat to the world’s wheat crops and food security.

The Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application is presented annually to a young extension worker, research scientist or development professional who best emulates the dedication, perseverance, and innovation demonstrated by Norman Borlaug while working in the field with Mexican farmers in the 1940s and ’50s.

“When I learned that I was selected for the Borlaug Field Award, I was humbled by both the legacy of Norman Borlaug and by the fact that any impact I made was a part of collaborations with talented and hard-working individuals at USDA-ARS, the University of Minnesota, CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, and other national programs,” Rouse said.

Rouse has been an essential collaborator for a wide range of crucial projects to protect the world’s wheat crops. His research supports more than 20 breeding programs in the U.S. and 15 wheat genetics programs around the world, including those at CIMMYT. As the coordinator of ARS’s spring wheat nursery project in Ethiopia and Kenya, he has provided Ug99 resistance genes to breeders worldwide, accelerating the process for incorporating enhanced stem rust protection into wheat varieties.

Rouse also collaborated with CIMMYT in 2013, when a race of stem rust unrelated to Ug99 caused an epidemic in Ethiopia. He rapidly assembled a team of scientists from CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and USDA-ARS, and developed a research plan to establish four stem rust screening nurseries. This led to the selection of promising new wheat breeding lines by Ethiopian and CIMMYT scientists and the rapid 2015 release of the variety ‘Kingbird’ in Ethiopia, which was shown to be resistant to four of the most dangerous races of stem rust in addition to Ug99.

Read the announcement of the award on the World Food Prize website.

Breaking Ground: Gemma Molero sheds light on wheat photosynthesis

Written by Mike Listman on July 18, 2018. Posted in Features.

Despite the rising interest in advanced methods to discover useful genes for breeding in crops like wheat, the role of crop physiology research is now more important than ever, according to Gemma Molero, a wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Physiology starts with the physical, observable plant,” Molero said. “It attempts to understand plant traits and processes and, ultimately, to provide breeders with selectable traits. Take for example the plant’s ability to capture and use sunlight. This is a complex trait and there are no useful DNA markers for it, so we have to analyze how it works and then help breeders to select plants that use sunlight better and yield more grain.”

A key goal of breeders and physiologists is to boost wheat’s genetic yield potential dramatically. Progress through current breeding is less than 1 percent each year. Molero said that needs to go to 1.7 percent yearly, to meet the demand expected by 2050 from expanding and urbanizing populations.

“Science must also adapt wheat to rising temperatures, less water, and mutating disease strains, and physiology is contributing,” she added.

Applied science and fieldwork drew Molero to CIMMYT

Molero grew up near Barcelona, Spain, in a family that included a folk-healing grandmother and a grandfather whose potato fields and orchards she recalls helping to tend as a child, during summers in Granada.

“My family called me ‘santurrona’ — something like ‘goody-two-shoes’ in English — because I was always trying to help people around me,” Molero explained.

Molero completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at the University of Barcelona, Spain, by 2006. She then pursued a doctorate in eco-physiology under the supervision of José Luis Araus, a University of Barcelona professor who was also working as a CIMMYT maize physiologist around the same time.

“Araus was an example of persistence and enthusiasm for me,” Molero explained. “He sent me to the CIMMYT research station near Ciudad Obregón, in northwestern Mexico, for fieldwork as part of my Ph.D. research. That sealed the deal. I said ‘This is the type of work where I can have impact, in an interdisciplinary setting, and with fieldwork.’ ”

She joined CIMMYT in 2011 as a post-doctoral fellow with Matthew Reynolds, a CIMMYT distinguished scientist who leads wheat physiology research.

Wheat spikes hold grain and catch light

Molero has quickly made a mark in CIMMYT wheat physiology research. Among other achievements, she has spearheaded studies on photosynthesis in wheat spikes — the small ears that hold the grain — to increase yield.

“In elite wheat varieties, spike photosynthesis adds an average 30 percent to grain yield,” she said. “In wheat wild relatives and landraces, that can go as high as 60 percent. This has put wheat spike photosynthesis in the science limelight.”

Practical outputs of this work, which involves numerous partners, include molecular markers and other tools that breeders can use to select for high spike photosynthesis in experimental lines. “We have a project with Bayer Crop Science to refine the methods,” Molero said.

Molero is also collaborating with plant biologists Stephen Long, University of Illinois, and Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Lancaster University, UK, to understand how quickly wheat returns to full photosynthesis after being shaded — for example, when clouds pass overhead. According to Molero, wheat varies greatly in its response to shading; over a long cropping season, quick recoveries can add 20 percent or more to total productivity.

“This is a breakthrough in efforts to boost wheat yields,” explained Molero, who had met Long through his participation in the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP), an initiative that aims to raise wheat’s genetic yield potential by 50 percent over the next two decades. “I was fortunate to arrive at CIMMYT at just the right time, when IWYP and similar global partnerships were being formalized.”

Training youth and improving conditions for young women

From a post-doctoral fellow to her current position as a full scientist at CIMMYT, Molero has supervised 13 Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows, as well as serving as an instructor in many training courses.

“During my first crop cycle at Ciudad Obregón, I was asked to coordinate the work of five Ph.D. students,” she said. “I’d arrive home exhausted from long days and fall asleep reading papers. But I love supervising students and it’s a great way to learn about diverse facets of wheat physiology.”

Regarding the challenges for women and youth in the scientific community, Molero believes a lot needs to change.

“Science is male-dominated and fieldwork even more,” she observed. “It’s challenging being a woman and being young — conditions over which we have no control but which can somehow blind peers to our scientific knowledge and capacity. Instances of what I call ‘micro-machismo’ may appear small but they add up and, if you push back, the perceived ‘feminism’ makes some male scientists uncomfortable.”

Molero also believes young scientists need ample room to develop. “The most experienced generation has to let the new generation grow and make mistakes.”

Public policy and Borlaug’s final instruction: take it to the farmer

Written by on September 14, 2017. Posted in News.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – In a blog published by the World Food Prize, Bram Govaerts discusses the need for integration between research and decision-making at all levels including the public policy levels.

“When it comes to influencing public policy for the benefit of farmers, consumers or the environment, most of us react like the average citizen overwhelmed by the burden of bureaucracy: We don’t want to have to do anything with it!”

“Our initial reaction as researchers is ‘I did not spend years studying in the university, (only) to draft budgets, answer urgent information requests or attend long meetings with government officials who allocate the money CIMMYT receives.’ ”

But in the end Govaerts recognizes that meetings to shape public policy in Mexico, Latin America and globally are essential, and is proud to do his part, whether by getting his hands dirty in the field or wearing a suit and tie and sitting through countless hours of official appointments.

“Take it to the farmer” was the admonition of the late Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Prize Laureate and former CIMMYT scientist, regarding technological innovation, the day before he died. Govaerts said this call to action drives CIMMYT’s MasAgro project and the farmer adoption of related innovations, which by conservative estimates raise farmers’ incomes seven-fold for every dollar invested in the program.

Govaerts also knows that sensible, effective data driven discussions are a critical underpinning for this process.

“I do my best (in policy meetings) to offer innovation, better data and information that lead to sound decision making and help develop sustainable agrifood systems for improved nutrition, nature conservation and national as well as international security,” Govaerts explained.

Read Bram Govaerts’ full blog published by the World Food Prize.

Govaerts discusses the impacts of MasAgro. Photo: Agrosintesis

New generation of hunger fighters needed, says Julie Borlaug at CIMMYT 50th anniversary

Written by on September 26, 2016. Posted in News.

Julie Borlaug (R) stands with her mother, Jeannie Laube Borlaug, beside a statue of her grandfather Norman Borlaug at the Mexico headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El Batan. CIMMYT/Marcelo Ortiz

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Encouraging youth willing to become “hunger fighters” to take up the challenges of farming despite erratic weather caused by climate change, drought, dwindling water supplies and nutrient-depleted soil, is key to future food security, said Julie Borlaug, associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

These hunger fighters must embrace technological innovation, creativity, bold ideas and collaborate across all disciplines, while also effectively engaging smallholder farmers and private and public sectors to come up with sustainable solutions, Borlaug said, adding that the average age of a farmer in the United States and Africa is well over 50 years.

Julie Borlaug, the granddaughter of 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug, a former key wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) known internationally as the father of the Green Revolution, will address delegates at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference on September 27, 2016 with a speech titled, “CIMMYT’s future as a Borlaug legacy.”

After 50 years, CIMMYT remains relevant in the fight for food security and an important part of the Borlaug legacy, Borlaug said, adding that technological innovation is needed to address agriculture and the challenge of climate change.

“Since the seven years of his passing, I know my grandfather would be pleased by the leadership team and all at CIMMYT. As hunger fighters and the next generation, they have made CIMMYT their institution and continue to advocate strongly for improvement in science and technology to feed the world,” she said.

Her grandfather, who started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s in Mexico, where CIMMYT is headquartered near Mexico City, led efforts to develop semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Norman Borlaug paid tribute to the “army of hunger fighters” with whom he had worked.

Borlaug shared some views on CIMMYT and the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces into the future?

In my opinion, the entire agricultural community should focus on addressing three major challenges: the first is climate change and erratic weather patterns. Droughts and a decline of limited natural resources such as water and soil are of major consequence to agricultural productivity. The second major challenge is the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. And the third major challenge we are facing is how to engage the next generation to work in the agricultural sector.

To address the first challenge, we must have biotechnology and technological innovation across the board to address issues that will stem from climate change. The utilization of drought, heat and saline tolerant crops, informatics, and other innovations will be a necessity. Technology will be part of the integrated solution that creates better farming systems, more nutritious foods and addresses all the issues that come with climate change and sustainability.

It is important to understand the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. I understand their skepticisms and confusion. It is important to note that when speaking to these critics, we keep in mind the campaigns that have been mounted against our industry and have spread fear and inaccurate information that the public has accepted as fact. In my opinion, the agricultural industry has to improve in explaining to the public why modern agriculture is so important to our future and why the opposition to it cannot be permitted to deprive millions of people of its promise.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT is both personally and professionally significant to me. Personally, I have grown up knowing how deeply invested, protective and grateful my grandfather was to the role CIMMYT played in his career, the Green Revolution and as a leader in international maize and wheat research. CIMMYT was not just a place in which my grandfather was employed but part of his family. All who met, worked with my grandfather or had the opportunity to have an early morning CIMMYT breakfast with him, remember the deep interest he had in their careers and research as well as his often too candid assessment of their current & future work. His passion for CIMMYT never faded and in the end of his life his return “home” to his Yaqui Valley wheat fields in Sonora, Mexico, gave him hope for the future of CIMMYT, the CGIAR system as a whole and international research and development in agriculture.

Professionally for me, CIMMYT has helped me learn more about my grandfather professionally but it has also broadened my depth and knowledge of maize and wheat research as well as the importance for the CG system. At the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M, we work in international agriculture development and have had the opportunity to partner with CIMMYT on many occasions. I promised my grandfather that I would help to bring all the Borlaug Legacy Institutions together to work collaboratively and not competitively as we once had. CIMMYT was the first Borlaug legacy institution to join us in working collectively towards my grandfather legacy to end hunger and poverty.

CIMMYT, Mexico honor legacy of Norman Borlaug

Written by on May 27, 2016. Posted in Features.

Norman Borlaug (fourth right) in the field showing a plot of Sonora-64, one of the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant varieties that was key to the Green Revolution, to a group of young international trainees, at what is now CIMMYT's CENEB station (Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug, or The Norman E. Borlaug Experiment Station), near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT. — Norman Borlaug (fourth right) in the field showing a plot of Sonora-64, one of the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant varieties that was key to the Green Revolution, to a group of young international trainees near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture (SAGARPA) is displaying an exhibition honoring the life and legacy of Nobel Prize Laureate and CIMMYT scientist Norman Borlaug.

The exhibit, which opens from 25-27 May, includes photographs, personal items and awards that belonged to Borlaug and other CIMMYT scientists who made great strides in the center’s fight against hunger.

In his speech at the inauguration of the exhibit, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff emphasized the strong ties between Borlaug, CIMMYT and Mexico. “The work that Borlaug did in wheat with the support of Mexican farmers and scientists saved a billion lives around the world,” he said, and thanked SAGARPA for honoring Borlaug’s legacy with the event. “Today, thanks to Borlaug, CIMMYT continues its work in Mexico to fight hunger around the world.”

A key part of this work is the MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture) project, a joint initiative between CIMMYT and SAGARPA that works to strengthen food security in Mexico. During his address, Kropff announced that the project has just developed 11 new varieties of wheat for Mexico, with genetic characteristics for high yield, pest resistance, and tolerance to climate change related stresses.

These wheat varieties are the result of 8 years of research and are the latest generation in a long line of cultivars generated from CIMMYT’s wheat breeding programs, dating from Borlaug himself to the present day. A recent wheat impact study found that 50 percent of the land used to grow wheat around the world is planted with CIMMYT or CIMMYT-derived varieties, feeding billions across the globe.

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, José Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa display the signed agreement. Photo: CIMMYT.

In his welcome address, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, José Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa praised Borlaug and CIMMYT’s work, and emphasized the importance of protecting food security both in Mexico and around the world. “The topic of food security is becoming more and more important every day. According to the FAO, food production must increase by 70% by 2050 in order to keep up with demand,” he said.

Calzada Rovirosa and Kropff signed an agreement between CIMMYT and SAGARPA to continue supporting MasAgro’s work and its contribution to Mexico’s food security.

“We are very proud here at CIMMYT to have the support of SAGARPA and Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary for our work,” Kropff said. “We are the only international organization based in Mexico, and truly have such a strong relationship with our host country.”

Julie Borlaug (center) presents Calzada Rovirosa (right) and Kropff (left) her grandfather's Order of the Aztec Eagle award. — Julie Borlaug (center) presents her grandfather’s Order of the Aztec Eagle award to Calzada Rovirosa (right) and Kropff (left).

At the close of the inauguration, Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Norman Borlaug and associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University, presented the Secretary of Agriculture with her grandfather’s “Order of the Aztec Eagle” medal. The Aztec Eagle is the highest honor the government of Mexico awards to foreign citizens, and previous winners include Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Mandela. Norman Borlaug received the medal in 1970 upon winning the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded for agriculture, putting CIMMYT and Mexico’s work to protect global food security in the international spotlight. The medal will be displayed at SAGARPA as part of the Borlaug exhibition. “The order of the Aztec Eagle was one of my grandfather’s greatest honors, and our family is happy to see it displayed here in Mexico for the first time,” she said. “We know that CIMMYT in Mexico will produce the next Norman—or Norma—Borlaug that will help feed the world. Thank you SAGARPA for your continued support.”

The event was also attended by the sub secretary of Agriculture, Jorge Narváez Narváez; sub secretary of rural development, Mely Romero Celis; attorney general of SAGARPA, Mireille Rocatti Velázquez; international affairs coordinator, Raúl Urteaga Trani; director general of Mexico’s Development Fund for Agriculture, Livestock, Forests and Fisheries, Juan Carlos Cortés García; as well as ambassadors and representatives of Australia, Georgia, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Global wheat community discusses research, partnerships at Obregon pilgrimage

Written by on April 14, 2016. Posted in News.

Scientist Sukhwinder Singh (L) hosts a discussion in the wheat fields at the CIMMYT research station in Obregon, Mexico. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

OBREGON, Mexico (CIMMYT) — For hundreds of international agricultural development experts, an annual gathering in northern Mexico provides a vital platform for sharing and debating the latest wheat breeding news and research.

This year, more than 200 members of the wheat community from more than 30 countries met in the legendary wheat fields of Ciudad Obregon in Mexico’s state of Sonora to participate in Visitors’ Week, hosted by the Global Wheat Program (GWP) of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

The event coincides with the birthday of Norman Borlaug, the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, known as the father of the Green Revolution for his contributions to global food security, many of which were undertaken in Obregon. This year, Visitors’ Week delegates toasted his 102^nd birthday at the Norman E. Borlaug Experimental Field research station.

The month of March also marks the peak wheat-growing season in Obregon, and participants attended a field day tour to see old and new wheat varieties, learn about CIMMYT programs and the latest research findings. Additionally, meetings and discussions were held with the goal of contributing to the improvement of wheat research across the globe by identifying key priorities.

INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUES

A brainstorming session between representatives from the British government and CIMMYT included discussions on collaborating on breeding for tolerance to high ambient temperatures, durable disease resistance, nitrogen use efficiency, and quality and nutrition.

Future collaborations between CIMMYT and Australia were explored with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the CIMMYT-Australia-ICARDA Germplasm Exchange (CAIGE) group. 2Blades, a U.S.-based organization supporting the development of durable disease resistance in crop plants, joined the discussion and expressed the need to use safe, sustainable crop production strategies.

As part of discussions regarding international collaboration, the second meeting of the Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency in wheat aimed to improve international coordination on NUE (nitrogen and other nutrients) research among Australia, Britain, France, Mexico, Italy, Spain and Germany.

During the NUE meeting, an executive committee was appointed, with Malcolm Hawksford, head of Plant Biology and Crop Science at Rothamsted Research as chair and Jacques Le Gouis, of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, as vice chair.

As well, the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) held its first official conference during which IWYP director Jeff Gwyn discussed outcomes and objectives for the next 20 years.

Due to the large audience of global wheat researchers, the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative took the opportunity to launch its new project, Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW), supported by a $24 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Under the DGGW, CIMMYT scientists aim to mitigate serious threats to wheat brought about by climate change by developing and deploying new heat-tolerant, disease-resistant wheat varieties.

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

With the hope of increasing data and information sharing, the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) awarded Mehmet Nazım Dincer of Turkey the IWIN Cooperator Award for contributing data on international nurseries. Through a lottery, Dincer was selected from among researchers who provided data on international seed nurseries to IWIN in 2015. Dincer was awarded a one-week paid visit to Obregón during GWP Visitors’ Week, and was also congratulated for his collaborative efforts during the festivities.

Another lottery will be held in November to select the next winner from among cooperators who return 2016 international nursery data. GWP director Hans Braun joked that he is not aware of other lotteries with so few participants in which the jackpot is a trip to Obregon, encouraging IWIN cooperators to return their data and win.

Visitors’ Week is not only an important time for international collaborations and brainstorming, but also for capacity development and training early career scientists. Coinciding with this year’s Visitors’ Week was the GWP Basic Wheat Improvement Course (BWIC), a three-month training course for young and mid-career scientists focusing on applied breeding techniques in the field. In addition to attending Visitors’ Week events, trainees were offered special courses with guest lecturers.

Joining the BWIC at this time were winners of the 2016 Women in Triticum Award who alongside women trainees attended a “Women in Agriculture” discussion led by Jeannie Borlaug, daughter of Norman Borlaug, to discuss difficulties and successes women face in achieving equality in the science and agriculture sectors.

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)

CIMMYT scientists make a splash on Australian radio show

Written by on September 18, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on CIMMYT scientists make a splash on Australian radio show

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast its “Country Hour” program live from the International Wheat Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney. The program features 2014 World Food Prize Laureate Sanjaya Rajaram and several CIMMYT scientists, including Sridhar Bhavani, David Hodson, Julio Huerta, Jessica Rutkoski and Hans Braun, director of the Global Wheat Program. Jeanie Borlaug Laube, the “first lady of wheat” and daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and wheat breeder Norman Borlaug, is among interviewees selected by broadcaster Michael Condon.

Click here to listen to podcast.

Replacing gender myths and assumptions with knowledge

Written by on September 18, 2015. Posted in Director General's corner.

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff speaks on the topic of ‘Wheat and the role of gender in the developing world’ prior to the 2015 Women in Triticum Awards at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop in Sydney on 19 September.

If we are to be truly successful in improving the lives of farmers and consumers in the developing world, we need to base our interventions on the best evidence available. If we act based only on our assumptions, we may not be as effective as we could be or, even worse, actively cause harm.

One example is the common perception that women are not involved in the important wheat farming systems of North Africa and South Asia. By recognizing and engaging with these myths, we are beginning to build a more sophisticated understanding of how agriculture works as a social practice.

Currently, there are only a few published studies that take a closer examination of the roles played by women in wheat-based farming systems. These studies have found that, in some cases, men are responsible for land preparation and planting, and women for weeding and post-harvest activities, with harvest and transport duties being shared. Between different districts in India, huge variations may be found in the amount of time that women are actively involved in wheat agriculture. This shows that some careful study into the complexities of gender and agricultural labor may hold important lessons when intervening in any particular situation.

We must also never assume that, just because women are not as involved in agriculture in a particular context, they can not benefit from more information. In a survey carried out by CIMMYT researcher Surabhi Mittal in parts of rural India, it was found that women used a local cellphone agricultural advisory service just as much as men, and that this knowledge helped them get more involved in farming-related decision-making.

Gender is not just about women

For all that it is important to include women, along with other identity groups in project planning, implementation and data collection, it is important not to get into the trap of thinking that gender-integrated approaches are just about targeting women.

For example, the World Health Organization estimates that micronutrient deficiency affects at least two billion people around the world, causing poor health and development problems in the young. The effects of micronutrient deficiency start in the womb, and are most severe from then through to the first two years of life. Therefore it would make sense to target women of childbearing age and mothers with staple varieties that have been bio-fortified to contain high levels of important micronutrients such as zinc, iron or vitamin A.

However, to do so risks ignoring the process in which the decision to change the crop grown or the food eaten in the household is taken. Both men and women will be involved in that decision, and any intervention must therefore take the influence of gender norms and relations, involving both women and men, into account.

The way ahead

To move forward, each component of the strategy for research into wheat farming systems at CIMMYT also has a gender dimension, whether focused on improving the evidence base, responding to the fact that both women and men can be end users or beneficiaries of new seeds and other technologies, or ensuring that gender is considered as a part of capacity-building efforts.

Already, 20 of our largest projects are actively integrating gender into their work, helping to ensure that women are included in agricultural interventions and share in the benefits they bring, supplying a constant stream of data for future improvement.

We have also experienced great success in targeting marginalized groups. For instance, the Hill Maize Research Project in Nepal, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) alongside the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on food-insecure people facing discrimination due to their gender or social group. By supporting them to produce improved maize varieties in community groups, the project managed not only to greatly increase their incomes, but also to improve their self-confidence and recognition in society.

CIMMYT researchers are also among the leaders of a global push to encode gender into agricultural research together with other international research partnerships. In over 125 agricultural communities in 26 countries, a field study of gender norms, agency and agricultural innovation, known as GENNOVATE, is now underway. The huge evidence base generated will help spur the necessary transformation in how gender is included in agricultural research for development.

Further information:

The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, chaired by Jeanie Borlaug Laube, has the overarching objective of systematically reducing the world’s vulnerability to stem, yellow, and leaf rusts of wheat and advocating/facilitating the evolution of a sustainable international system to contain the threat of wheat rusts and continue the enhancements in productivity required to withstand future global threats to wheat. This international network of scientists, breeders and national wheat improvement programs came together in 2005, at Norman Borlaug’s insistence, to combat Ug99. The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) project at Cornell University serves as the secretariat for the BGRI. The DRRW, CIMMYT, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the FAO helped establish the BGRI a decade ago. Funding is provided by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information, please visit www.globalrust.org.

CIMMYT is the global leader in research for development in wheat and maize and related farming systems. CIMMYT works throughout the developing world with hundreds of partners to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat to improve food security and livelihoods. CIMMYT belongs to the 15-member CGIAR Consortium and leads the Consortium Research Programs on wheat and maize. CIMMYT receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

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Twitter: @CIMMYT, @KropffMartin and @GlobalRust

SUPER WOMAN: Jeanie Borlaug Laube unites global wheat community

Written by on May 29, 2015. Posted in Features.

jeanieborlaug International Women’s Day on March 8, offers an opportunity to recognize the achievements of women worldwide. This year, CIMMYT asked readers to submit stories about women they admire for their selfless dedication to either maize or wheat. In the following story, Linda McCandless writes about her Super Woman of Wheat, Jeanie Borlaug Laube, chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative.

Jeanie Borlaug Laube has served as the chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) since 2009, a year after it was first launched.

She is an enthusiastic proponent of wheat research and enjoins all scientists to “take it to the farmer.”

She has helped build a community of wheat researchers and amplified their collective voice among politicians, policymakers, farmers, scientists and donors.

She is an influential advocate for wheat research and science. To mark the 100th anniversary of her father Norman Borlaug’s birth, in 2013 and 2014 she visited Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Mexico, Washington, D.C, and Minnesota, speaking at various political events as an ambassador for wheat, food security, and global cooperation. Additionally, she met with scientists, farmers and other leaders.

The late Borlaug, known as “the father of the Green Revolution” for the high-yielding, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties he developed, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

In 2009, she initiated the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Award for young career scientists, and there are now 25 awardees who are changing the face of wheat research.

In 2010, she initiated the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Mentor Award for those scientists, male or female, who are valuable mentors of young wheat scientists.

For her enthusiastic, persistent and persuasive advocacy of wheat as one of the most important crops for global food security, I nominate Jeanie Borlaug Laube as a Wheat Super Woman.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

SUPER WOMAN: Suchismita Mondal develops climate change resilient wheat

Written by on May 29, 2015. Posted in Features.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Suchismita Mondal was inspired by the humble flour tortilla to take up a career as an international wheat breeder.

Mondal’s original intention was to focus on plant genetics, so she moved from India, where she earned her undergraduate degree at Banaras Hindu University, to the United States to attend Texas A&M University.

Once there, her studies were focused on the application of genetics in breeding for wheat germplasm that would lead to improved tortilla quality, under the guidance of Dr. Dirk Hays, her master’s degree advisor.

“Being involved in the project, developing crosses and evaluating germplasm was my initial point of interest in breeding,” Mondal said, adding that she was also inspired by a conversation she had with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug, who was teaching at the university.

Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution due to the semi-dwarf wheat varieties he developed at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which are credited with saving more than 1 billion lives in India, Pakistan and other parts of the developing world.

“Learning about the direct impact of a breeder’s work in the farmers’ fields and lives of millions of people was also a significant motivation, not only to become a breeder, but also to work at CIMMYT,” said Mondal.

Later, for her doctoral degree, she went on to research the function of genetic controls for heat-stress resilience in winter wheat.

Following her graduation in 2011, she realized her ambition and began working at CIMMYT. Since then, Mondal has developed her career at CIMMYT — working with distinguished scientist Ravi Singh — where she is now an associate scientist in the bread wheat breeding program and develops high-yielding heat and drought tolerant germplasm.

Her work in the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project has led to the identification of early-maturing, high-yielding, heat-tolerant lines with 10- to 15-percent superior yields in the heat-stressed environments of South Asia, two of which were released in India while various others are at different stages of testing.

“Strive hard, stay motivated,” she advises her successors, the upcoming generation of women scientists.

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.