Dr. Norman Borlaug, agricultural sciences pioneer and acknowledged father of the “Green Revolution,” passed away Sept. 12 at the age of 95. During his lengthy career, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal for his developments in food production, including advances in plant breeding, irrigation, and pesticide and fertilizer use. He has been credited for saving more people on the planet than any other human in history.
Raised on an Iowa farm, Borlaug received a Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota. His career began in the 1940s at DuPont, and he was a key figure in the transformation to the higher-yield farming practices that began after World War II. One of Borlaug’s initial successes in the 1940s was to help Mexico increase its agricultural development through research on maize and disease-resistant “dwarf” wheat varieties, turning the country from an importer to an exporter of wheat by the mid-1960s.
Borlaug’s success with wheat breeding in Mexico was transplanted to famine-stricken India and Pakistan in the 1960s. The new strains nearly doubled Indian and Pakistani wheat production between 1965 and 1970, increasing production by more than 11 million tons in those two countries. Those successes, achieved at a time when mass famine was widely predicted, spread Borlaug’s fame and his dwarf wheat varieties throughout the world, including Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his efforts in alleviating world hunger. In later years he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the country’s two top civilian honors. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest honor, as well as numerous honorary universities degrees from around the world.
“In the death of Norman Borlaug, the world today has lost not only an eminent agriculture scientist but a man dedicated to the cause of humanity,” said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar of India. “As India moves towards the second Green Revolution, his enduring vision will be a source of inspiration and sustenance for all of us.”
Borlaug had been a professor at Texas A&M University since 1984. He remained a staunch advocate of high-yield farming practices until his death, even as criticism grew among environmental advocates that plant breeding advances, biotechnology, and the overuse of pesticides and fertilizer posed dangers of their own.
Borlaug was a hero of the fertilizer industry, and his words and likeness were featured in several industry public relations campaigns. “This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people,” he once said. “Without fertilizer, forget it. The game is over.”
“We were saddened to learn of Dr. Borlaug’s passing,” said Ford B. West, president of The Fertilizer Institute. “With energy, empathy and brilliance he delivered the tools of modern food production to the world’s poor. The millions of lives he saved stand as the most fitting legacy of his work.”
The International Plant Nutrition Institute also added its voice to the many Borlaug tributes last week. “In an amazing journey from his Iowa farm roots to world recognition as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he never lost sight of the importance of global food security and the power of science through agriculture,” IPNI said in a Sept. 15 statement. “While we are saddened by the loss of this innovative scientist and beloved leader, we believe his vision and accomplishments will serve as inspiration to future generations to continue the quest for world food security.”
The American Seed Trade Association also praised Dr. Borlaug, saying his death “is truly a loss for the plant breeding industry.” ASTA Chairman Jerry Monk of Warner Seeds Inc. in Hereford, Texas, said Borlaug “challenged today’s crop of plant breeders to rise to a new level that would benefit growers globally.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) has started an effort to memorialize Borlaug with a bronze statue in the U.S. Capitol. Latham asked the state’s six other members of Congress on Sept. 14 to join him in asking Gov. Chet Culver and the Legislature to pass a resolution designating Borlaug. However, a Borlaug statue would have to replace one of two statues – of Samuel Kirkwood and James Harlan – currently representing Iowa in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.