Norman
Borlaug
(College Station)— Norman Borlaug, who turned 92 on March 25, recounts a lifetime of work in agriculture, targeting food for the world's hungriest, poorest nations.
His much-touted talent for agricultural development, coupled with his keen awareness of societal ailments in Third World countries, have brought many honors from around the world. The most recent is the National Medal of Science, the highest awarded to scientists in the United States, given by President Bush on Feb. 13.
Borlaug has had several buildings and organizations named in his honor, including Borlaug Hall at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota (where his athletic prowess resulted in membership in the Wrestling Hall of Fame), and the Norman E. Borlaug Center for Southern Crop Improvement at Texas A&M. He has even been immortalized in a rap song, called “The Norman Borlaug Rap (Thank You, Norman).”
Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution that resulted in high-yield, disease-resistant wheat plants and the training of hundreds of workers who spread the technology to more than 20 nations to stave off what was thought to be an inevitable famine in the 1950s and ‘60s.
The results were unprecedented. Mexico went from having to import half its wheat to self-sufficiency by 1956 and, by 1964, to exporting half a million tons of wheat. The program was expanded to India and Pakistan where it is credited with saving more than 1 billion people from starvation. Borlaug won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
Borlaug
in 1943 (photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota)
Since joining the international agriculture program at Texas A&M in 1984, he has turned his attention to Sub-Saharan Africa, where his programs to revolutionize farming have resulted in yields that are nearly always triple, and sometimes quadruple, those produced by traditional methods.
He also is senior consultant to the director general of CIMMYT, a nonprofit agricultural research and training center based in Mexico that has links to about 100 developing countries.
Borlaug's ability to link food with education to solve issues around the world is the prime example of what agriculture is about, according to Elsa Murano, vice chancellor and dean of agriculture at Texas A&M.
"Dr. Borlaug has long been the model for what agricultural researchers strive for," Murano said. "His persistence in using science to develop answers for hungry people is at the heart of improvements that have been recognized around the world."
For Borlaug, situations around the world have defined his career.
"There were 1.6 billion people in the world the year I was born. There are 6.4 billion now," said Borlaug. "Unfortunately most are short of food; hunger is commonplace. I've seen famine all too often."
Borlaug maintains encyclopedic knowledge of hunger from the beginning of his career in 1944 as a wheat researcher for a cooperative program between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government. He recalled waves of famine that swept through Asia, Africa and Central and South America periodically through those decades.
"There has been great progress. Food is more equitably distributed," he said. "But there still are too many people; there still is plenty of hunger. There are 84 million more people each year, and most are in countries that already have food deficits with poverty and illiteracy."
That's why agriculture, with its ability to yield increasingly higher amounts of food, must go hand-in-hand with efforts to educate the masses, he said.
"I hope (the Medal of Science) honor calls attention to the large and ongoing problem," Borlaug said.
Texas A&M President Robert M. Gates offered his congratulations.
"Speaking on behalf of Texas A&M's 55,000 students, faculty and staff, I congratulate Dr. Borlaug on being selected for this signal honor—one of many he has so deservedly received during his long and illustrious career," Gates said. "We are fortunate, indeed, to have him on our faculty and look forward to having the university continue to benefit from his vital work and its highly positive worldwide impact, particularly in helping feed hungry people in some of the regions most in need."
Two other Texas A&M faculty members have received this award: F. Albert Cotton, distinguished professor of chemistry, in 1982, and George Bass, distinguished emeritus professor of anthropology, in 2001.