Comments on: Remembering Norman Borlaug

By: Enock Chikava

Enock Chikava — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:40:29 +0000

Dr. Borloaug visited Malawi in 2006, he toured the greater part of the country which was devasted by drought and chronic hunger. On his last day at field day at a Gvt Research Station, he summarised Malawi’s problem as, “Malawi does not have a problem of drought, as most of you think, it has a drought of technology and a big problem of weeds”. Malawi receives about 600-800mm of rain each year, but at that time only 10% of the farmers were using hybrid seed and weeds were taller than the crops. This month Monsanto submitted dossiers to test BG2 and RRF to address the “technology drought and weed management” issues in cotton in Malawi, as identified by Dr Borlaug.

By: Beth Holmes

Beth Holmes — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:16:34 +0000

Ted highlights being asked “why” by Dr. Borlaug and it’s a good question for all of us in agricultural science. I’ve heard Dr. Borlaug speak multiple times and hearing him, I always found inspiration that quickly resulted in self-examination and re-visitation of priorities. An opportunity to talk to him in person arose after he spoke at the International Plant Breeding Symposium on the lawn of CIMMYT in 2006 where he was honored by the Indian Government for his contribution in relieving hunger in India. A colleague and I were stalking him like groupies and he received us graciously in spite of our reckless enthusiasm. Dr. Borlaug said to us, “Don’t be afraid of change.” This was simple, yet powerful advice from a man that lived by that motto. We think we are not afraid of what’s coming ahead, but it’s not entirely true. I was afraid. I was afraid that not enough would change and that change won’t occur fast enough. As plant breeders, we need to think of ourselves as crusaders against world hunger and poverty, and in that quest, we have work to do. In doing it we honor humanity, as well as this humanitarian, plant breeder, and scientist who tirelessly charted the course for us.

By: fams

fams — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:42:37 +0000

Norman was one of kind. “His total devotion to ending famine and hunger revolutionized food security ” – just read this from Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme. Worth a read: http://bit.ly/15foeb

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:04:53 +0000

Today I weep for the world because it has lost a true humanitarian and inspirational scientist. Most of my memories of Dr. Borlaug were as a wide eye graduate student learning of a historical figure who helped the world through plant breeding. It was however his philosophy that agricultural scientists need to do work that impacts the real world which most influenced my graduate education and subsequent research choices. I finally had the opportunity to hear him speak as a keynote speaker in 2007 at the American Society of Agronomy meeting, and as Dr. Crosbie points out it was a ‘fire and brimstone’ style of speaking that left this early career scientist much humbled and recommitted to the rubber meets the road science that had influenced my graduate school years. May we all take a piece of his humanitarian science into our daily life, and never forget the lessons he has taught us.

By: bob schmidt

bob schmidt — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:13:17 +0000

NPR has an excellent remembrance as well:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112791886