Norman Borlaug Celebrations Well Covered
April 7, 2014
The Crawford Fund and the DFAT Council on Australia Latin America Relations are supporting a visit to Mexico by two Australian journalists to cover the celebrations of the life and work of Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution.
The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security is celebrating the life and legacy of tireless hunger fighter Norman E. Borlaug, bringing together thought leaders, policymakers, and representatives of leading agricultural research-for-development organizations, both public and private.
The Borlaug100 website explains “Through applied breeding work with Mexican farmers and scientists, Dr. Borlaug, who passed away in September 2009, developed wheat varieties and farming practices that were adopted throughout the developing world last century, saving hundreds of millions from starvation and contributing to decades of historically low food prices. Borlaug received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for those achievements, and is one of only six people to have won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Kim Honan from ABC Rural and Neil Lyon from Fairfax regional papers will be reporting nationally with a wide range of stories related to wheat research and Australia’s strong involvement in and reliance on CIMMYT work.
As recently reported in the Fund’s ‘Doing Well by Doing Good’ report, the benefits to Australia from CIMMYT’s work has been tremendous. By 1994 more than 90% of the area sown to wheat in Australia was sown to CIMMYT and Borlaug’s semi-dwarf varieties, worth almost $240 million a year for the period 1974 to 1993. In addition, many of our key wheat researchers, as well as our breeders have benefited from working at or with CIMMYT.
Neil and Kim’s jam-packed program included interview arrangements with many of the Australians attending the Borlaug Summit. They will then travel on to visit CIMMYT headquarters to tour the genebank and other facilities.
As reports are available below, and more will be posted in the coming days.
Related material:
- Borlaug 100 website
- Wheat down Mexico way
Australian Cotton and Grains Outlook (Cover), April 2014 - Wonders of wheat abound
Australian Cotton and Grains Outlook (p15), April 2014 - Future genes in safe hands
Australian Cotton and Grains Outlook (p16), April 2014 - Farmers strike issues
Australian Cotton and Grains Outlook (p17), April 2014 - Wheat thrives in Mexico
Australian Cotton and Grains Outlook (p17), April 2014 - Borlaug’s legacy lives on
Farm Weekly, 3 April 2014 - Free rein in world wheat gene bank
The Land (print), 3 April 2014 - Wheat’s hallowed ground
The Land (print), 3 April 2014 - Mexican wheat summit (video)
Stock and Land, 4 April 2014 - Now there’s even a Borlaug bop
Farm Weekly, 4 April 2014 - Borlaug’s birthday
ABC Rural, 6 April 2014 - CIMMYT awarded World Food Prize’s Borlaug Medallion
ABC Rural, 7 April 2014 - Crop stubble fair game for grazing
Stock Journal, 7 April 2014 - Mexican genebank full of Aussie promise
The Land (web), 7 April 2014 - Celebrating 100 years of Norman Borlaug
ABC Rural, 8 April 2014 - Mexico trials develop Aust wheat
Stock Journal, 10 April 2014 - Norman Borlaug’s rap release
ABC Rural, 10 April 2014 - Norm and me
ABC Rural, 13 April 2014 - Inside world’s largest wheat and maize bank
ABC Rural, 15 April 2014 - Mexican research lifts yields world-wide
Stock and Land, 17 April 2014 - Mexico aids Aussie wheat
Stock Journal, 17 April 2014 - Borlaug legacy keeps wheat farmers ahead
Farm Weekly (page 14), 24 April 2014 - Mexican wheat trials boon for Australia
Farm Weekly (page 17), 24 April 2014 - Drone speeds up wheat selection
ABC Rural, 10 May 2014 - Summit grapples with feeding growing world
Grains Outlook, May 2014 - Conservation comes to Mexico
Grains Outlook, May 2014
