The Man Who Saved

a Billion Lives
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It’s probably safe to say that most of us haven’t heard of agronomist Norman Borlaug. If I hadn’t been tangentially involved with Indian agriculture, I wouldn’t have heard of him. But Borlaug was not only a famous scientist, he was one of only seven people to have won the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal. Apparently, the only prize to elude him was the Cy Young Award.

Dr. Borlaug is most famous for having launched what came to be known the Green Revolution — the agricultural phenomenon responsible for an exponential increase, a veritable explosion, in the amount of food produced on earth. And yes, it’s no exaggeration to say that Borlaug did, in fact, save a billion lives.

His singular achievement, the thing he’ll be remembered for forever, was the development of a strain of high-yield, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf Mexican wheat, an achievement that more or less prevented a big part of the underdeveloped world from starving to death.

While I was with the Peace Corps in Punjab, India (attached to the Punjab Department of Irrigation), a U.S. State Dept. agriculture officer kindly provided me with a layman’s overview of the significance of dwarf wheat. At the risk of overly-simplifying it, here is what I understood it to be.

Whereas “standard” wheat plants are fairly tall and have narrow stalks (I saw them in the cultivated fields of Punjab), dwarf wheat plants are relatively short and squat, and have thick, husky stalks. One advantage of that unique feature is that dwarf plants can remain upright. They don’t fall over from their own weight and lie on the ground, rotting, and they don’t usually break down on a windy day.

Another advantage — indeed, the most important advantage — is that, compared to standard wheat plants, the dwarf produces a prodigious amount of wheat kernels. The comparison is astounding. It’s the difference between a fragile, spindly, low-yielding wheat stalk, and an incredibly resilient, high-yielding, highly motivated “wheat shrub” that is absolutely bursting with edible kernels.

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I always assumed the Green Revolution started in California where all the health-conscious folks were trying to figure out what to do about smog in L.A. As it turns out, the Father of the Green Revolution grew up in Iowa. Dr. Norman Borlaug, the man who is attributed with saving over a billion lives, was born-and-raised with Iowa.

Dr. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work developing varieties of high yield, disease resistant varieties of wheat. His discovery took place while researching in Mexico. Mexico soon became a net exporter of wheat in the early ‘60’s. Between 1965 and 1970, India and Pakistan doubled their wheat production.
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In honor of the World Food Prize, which was inspired by his work, being awarded next week in Iowa, Genetic Literacy Project will feature some quotes from Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution. This year’s main event is the Borlaug Dialogue:

As we conclude the yearlong centennial observance of the birth of our founder, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the 2014 Borlaug Dialogue international symposium will draw upon Dr. Borlaug’s legacy and address “The Greatest Challenge in Human History: Can We Sustainably Feed the 9 Billion People on our Planet by the Year 2050?” The Dialogue will give special emphasis to the powers of intensification, innovation and inspiration to uplift smallholder farmers and meet the increasing demand for nutritious food.

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