Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug.

Norman Borlaug (March 25, 1914–September 12, 2009) is a Nobel Prize-winning agronomist credited with being the "Father of the Green Revolution" due to his success in both breeding and distributing a new high yield varieties of wheat. He grew up in Cresco, Iowa. His full name was Norman Ernest Borlaug.

His major contribution started while working for the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico, a collaboration between the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation. The programs goals were to breed new wheat varieties that could be improve yields as well as being successful in new environments. The result of this work was to breed a high-yielding short-strawed, disease-resistant wheat that was enormously successful when grown in Mexico, India, and Pakistan. The increased yields led to this new wheat variety being used in Latin American countries, the Near East, the Middle East, and in Africa. As director of the International Wheat Improvement Program for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Borlaug has also been a leader in educating young scientists in areas of research that directly impact farm productivity.

As a result of Borlaug's work, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat and yields in Pakistan and India almost doubled. It was this success, leading to food security in those countries and possibly saving millions from starvation that was labeled the Green Revolution. Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize (1970) the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal as a result of his contributions to this revolution.

In his later years, Borlaug became an advocate for the use of biotechnology to fight world famine, including plant breeding programs and genetically modified organisms.