St. Louis, Missouri
March 25, 2009
- Monsanto collaborates with Texas
A&M, honors world's pre-eminent rice and wheat researchers
- Global research program to ignite further public sector
research in important crops
Monsanto
Company today announced a $10 million grant to establish
Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program,
which will help identify and support young scientists interested
in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of
the world's most important staple crops, through plant breeding
techniques.
Monsanto is funding the
program, which will be administered by
Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the
Texas A&M University System, for the next five years. The
program honors the accomplishments of Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr.
Norman Borlaug, who pioneered plant breeding and research in
rice and wheat, respectively.
Applications will be reviewed
by an independent panel of global judges chaired by Program
Director Dr. Ed Runge, who is also a professor and Billie B.
Turner Chair in Production Agronomy (Emeritus) within the
Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University at
College Station.
"We are honored to administer
this program and work with students around the world to bring
new ideas and research techniques to rice and wheat breeding,"
Runge said. "Research in these two staple crops has fallen
behind others, and it is my hope this program will help
jumpstart additional
investment in two of the world's most important grains. We
encourage any eligible rice or wheat breeders around the world
to apply for the award."
Students interested in applying
to the program can find more details at
www.monsanto.com/mbbischolars.
Applications will be accepted until May 31.
Announcement of the first
year's winners is planned to correspond with the
World Food Prize held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 15,
2009. The announcement of the grant from Monsanto today marks
the celebration of Dr. Borlaug's 95th birthday.
Plant breeding is both an art
and science practiced for thousands of years in agriculture. A
breeder works with a specific plant species to help encourage
desired characteristics, like larger grain size, heartier
stalks, or greater tolerance to environmental stress, among
others, to improve the next generation of plants.
Rice and wheat are considered
by many to be the most important staple crops in developing
countries, providing necessary calories to feed billions of
people every day. Many of the world's poorest people rely on the
two grains as a key source of food. In 2008 farmers produced
nearly 440 million metric tons of rice and more than 680 million
metric tons of wheat. Yet, yields of rice and wheat have grown
on a compound annual growth rate of approximately 0.8 percent
over the past decade while the population has grown on a
compound annual growth rate of approximately 1.25 percent during
the same time period. Accelerating yield growth will help to
reduce hunger by helping to produce more food on the same number
of acres.
"As the world celebrates the
birthday of Dr. Borlaug, Monsanto is pleased to mark the
accomplishments of two great men in agriculture by establishing
this scholars program," said Dr. Ted Crosbie, Vice President,
Global Plant Breeding, Monsanto Company. "Drs. Beachell and
Borlaug devoted their lives to ensuring farmers had access to
the best rice and wheat varieties and to the advancement of
science through education. This award seeks to continue their
work to enable future generations of farmers to feed our growing
population."
"Young scientists who receive
this scholarship will have the opportunity to come to us to
further their training and work with world-renown rice experts
working on projects that are making a real difference to
people's lives," said Dr. Robert Zeigler, Director General,
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). "Public sector
support for graduate education in agricultural sciences in
developing countries has plummeted over the last couple of
decades. Support from private scholarships like this will help
build the next generation of rice scientists to ensure we can
solve the problems that face rice production now and in the
future."
"This is a welcome investment
by the private sector, in an era of increasing food insecurity
and decreasing numbers of graduate students in plant breeding,"
said Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, director general of
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
"We hope others will follow suit with additional funding and
look forward to hosting scholars funded by the program at our
center."
IRRI is the largest non-profit
agricultural research agency in Asia. Its mission is to reduce
poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and
consumers, and ensure that rice production is environmentally
sustainable.
CIMMYT is a non-profit research
and training center with direct links to about 100 developing
countries through offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
CIMMYT grew out of a pilot program in Mexico in 1943, sponsored
by the Government of Mexico and the Rockefeller Foundation. The
abbreviation "CIMMYT" derives from the Spanish version of the
organization's name: Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de
Maiz y Trigo. The organization is headquartered near Mexico
City.
Fathers of the Green
Revolution
Today, Dr. Borlaug remains
active in the fight against world hunger. Along with his work
through Texas A&M University, he chairs the Borlaug Global Rust
Initiative and remains involved in the World Food Prize and
Borlaug Fellows Program established by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. He also continues to collaborate with CIMMYT and
through the SG 2000 partnership of Sasakawa Africa Association
(SAA) and the Carter Center. Currently a resident of Dallas, he
is a plant pathologist and plant breeder whose efforts to
develop and deliver improved wheat varieties have been credited
with saving more than a billion people from starvation. Borlaug
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his
contributions. Borlaug was also awarded the Congressional Gold
Medal of Honor in 2006. In addition to Borlaug, only four people
have been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, The Medal of
Freedom and the Nobel Peace Prize: Mother Theresa, Nelson
Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Elie Wiesel.
Beachell was a world-renowned
plant breeder whose cultivation of a new rice plant led to
greatly increased yields of the crop in developing countries of
Asia. While working for IRRI in the 1960s, Beachell and others
crossed rice plants to produce a new variety called IR8. The
resulting plant produced more heads of rice on a shorter and
stronger stalk. IR8 is credited with savings millions of lives
in Asia. For his work, Beachell received the World Food Prize in
1996 with Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush.
The extraordinary contributions
of the two men have come to be known as the "Green Revolution."
The establishment of Monsanto's
Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program is part of
Monsanto's
three-point commitment to help increase global food
production in the face of growing demand, limited natural
resources and a changing climate. The company pledged in June
2008 to work in new partnerships with other businesses, citizen
groups and governments to meet the needs for increased food,
fiber and energy while protecting the environment. Monsanto's
three-point commitment to growing yields sustainably includes
the development of better seeds, conservation of resources and
helping to improve farmers' lives. More information on the
commitment can be found at
www.ProduceMoreConserveMore.com.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains
focused on enabling both small-holder and large- scale farmers
to produce more from their land while conserving more of our
world's natural resources such as water and energy. To learn
more about our business and our commitments, please visit:
http://www.monsanto.com/.
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Dr. Norman
Borlaug turns 95, lends its name
to $10 million Monsanto scholars
grant |
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Challenge:
Feed 9 billion people
The world’s population is
estimated to grow from 6.8
billion people today to 9.4
billion people by 2050. Leading
experts predict we will need to
produce more food over the next
50 years than has been produced
in the past 10,000 years
combined. Compounding this
challenge are the effects of
climate change and limited
natural resources.
Rice and wheat are two staple
crops critical to the food
security of billions of people
around the world. Together,
these two crops feed more than
half the world’s population.
However, increases in rice and
wheat productivity lag behind
other crops. Reasons for this
include lack of adequate
investment to improve varieties
and yield, diminishing land and
water resources, and
environmental stresses. To
overcome these challenges and
meet growing demand, it’s
important to ensure future plant
breeders are educated in
advanced technologies and have
an appreciation for how public
sector research can help meet
the needs of developed and
developing countries.
Are you a part of the solution
to this global challenge? If so,
there’s an opportunity for you.
"We must develop ways to
increase crop production on the
same land area if we want to
preserve land for other uses
such as for parks, wildlife,
forestry and grazing lands into
the future. That is what
Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug
International Scholars Program
is committed to do for rice and
wheat."
–Dr. Edward Runge, Program
Director and Chair of the
Panel of Judges |
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