{"id":4966,"date":"2009-09-13T22:25:15","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T04:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4966"},"modified":"2009-09-13T22:25:15","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T04:25:15","slug":"celebrating-the-life-of-a-scientist-that-fed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/celebrating-the-life-of-a-scientist-that-fed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the Life of a Scientist that “Fed the World”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Norm<\/a><\/p>\n

[social_buttons]<\/p>\n

Dr. Norman Borlaug passed away this weekend at 95. \u00a0He left behind an amazing legacy of contribution to humanity. \u00a0It is likely that he saved more human lives<\/a> than any other person in history. \u00a0He did it by developing far more productive wheat than had ever been grown. \u00a0His “short stature” wheat had shorter, thicker stems<\/a> so that it could hold bigger heads of grain that would otherwise “lodge” (collapse over on to the ground where it can’t be harvested). \u00a0It was also resistant to the devastating wheat disease called “Stem Rust<\/a>.” \u00a0This wheat ended up feeding millions of people around the world, particularly in Pakistan and India in the 1960s. \u00a0Borlaug’s breakthrough was a key part of the “Green Revolution” and it did much to address the hunger and poverty issues of the time. \u00a0For this, and his life-time of additional work Bourlag recieved the Nobel Peace\u00a0<\/a>Prize<\/span>, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Metal<\/a>\u00a0. \u00a0Only Martin Luther King, Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa have\u00a0received\u00a0all of these commendations. \u00a0He was also awarded the National Medal of Science<\/a>\u00a0and a host of other awards from around the world<\/a>. \u00a0There is an excellent article about the life and career of this remarkable man in the Des Moines Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Borlaug was originally trained as a “Plant Pathologist”<\/a> and all of us who are similarly trained find special inspiration from his accomplishments as we pursue our much more modest contributions to feeding the world. \u00a0Borlaug was also a tireless spokesperson for the importance of science and technology in increasing the yield and sustainability of farming. \u00a0Many people mistakenly see technology as, at best, a necessary evil, but Borlaug understood that technology is what has has and what will continue to enable increasingly productive and environmentally sound farming. \u00a0<\/p>\n

How Borlaug Made His Breakthrough<\/h2>\n

When Borlaug was doing his groundbreaking work in the 60s, he didn’t have the advanced tools that breeders have today. \u00a0He used something called “mutation breeding<\/a>.” \u00a0That method uses radiation or mutagenic chemicals to increase the number of gene mutations in a population of seeds and then a search is made for the extremely rare cases where the mutation is beneficial. \u00a0Compared to modern biotechnology this is a pretty crude approach, but that was the only method Borlaug had to speed up the process of trait selection. \u00a0I’m sure that mutagenesis will sound scary to many readers, but there are quite a few mutation breeding<\/a> advances that continue to play a role in agriculture (including some of my personal favorites like Ruby Red Grapefruit<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0and super sweet corn). \u00a0Don’t worry, there is no\u00a0persistent\u00a0presence of radiation or mutagens in the improved crops. \u00a0Still, modern biotechnology is a much better approach.<\/p>\n

Further Progress<\/h2>\n

The “Green Revolution” was not without its own sustainability issues. \u00a0In some places this intensified farming was done in ways that led to water pollution and soil loss. \u00a0But the answer to these issues was not rejection of Borlaug’s technology break-through, it was the development of additional technologies like “No-Till”<\/a> farming and improved fertilization practices<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Today biotechnology (both through “GMOs” and through advanced breeding technologies<\/a>\u00a0that are not “GMO”) is generating crops with pest resistance, drought tolerance and higher nitrogen use-efficiency. \u00a0Borlaug was particularly saddened that biotechnology has still not been fully applied to his favorite crop, wheat (mostly because of European resistance to GMOs). \u00a0Wheat growers from around the world<\/a> are working together to overcome irrational resistance to the use of these tools to improve one of the most important human food crops. \u00a0It is a little sad that Norm didn’t live to see that breakthrough, but as the Des Moines Register article quoted him saying:<\/p>\n

“I can’t be despondent, I have to be optimistic. \u00a0Pessimism has no place in action.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Norm Borlaug was definitely a man of action that made a\u00a0difference. We will miss his voice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image of Norm Bourlag (center) consulting with International Rice Research (IRRI) scientists from <\/em>IRRI Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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