ONE BILLION SERVED!!!!

Contributions of conventional plant breeding to food production.

Borlaug NE.

Abstract

Within a relatively short geological time frame, Neolithic man, or more probably woman, domesticated all the major cereal grains, legumes, and root crops that the world's people depend on for most of their calories and protein. Until very recently, crop improvement was in the hands of farmers. The cornerstones of modern plant breeding were laid by Darwin and Mendel in the late 19th century. As the knowledge of genetics, plant pathology, and entomology have grown during the 20th century, plant breeders have made enormous contributions to increased food production throughout the world. There have been major plant breeding break-throughs for maize and wheat, and promising research activities to raise yields in marginal production environments are ongoing. Since it is doubtful that significant production benefits will soon be forthcoming from the use of genetic engineering techniques with higher plants, especially polyploid species, most research funds for crop improvement should continue to be allocated for conventional plant breeding research.

Science. 1983 Feb 11;219(4585):689-93.

Why is this AMAZING??!

 Let me paint you a picture, billions starving around the world. Dust and tumbleweeds everywhere. Then a lone gunman pushes the saloon doors apart and casts his gaze on everything before him. He walks to the bar and orders a triple jack and pounds it down. He turns around and again surveys the saloon. He sees many a hollowed, hungry face. His large, vein covered hands have callouses on them right where you expect to see callouses on a gunfighter. One of those hands reaches underneath the poncho that the stranger wears and when it comes out it is now a fist. That hulking fist is watched with desperation and anticipation, by all before him. When the hand finally opens, there is a collective sigh to find that it is not more danger than implied by the stranger's presence. In fact, it is something innocuous. Seemingly innocuous. There in a pile is grain. Glorious food! The stranger throws more here and there and he speaks. Finally, those parched lips speak. People halfway across the room can smell the jack on his breath. He raises a fist and yells:

"I bring REVOLUTION!"

 Ok, so that is not the exact story of how Norman Borlaug changed the world, but I think it speaks to the truly epic contribution that he made to our society. He did not publish many scientific articles that I could find (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), but he worked to feed the world. Eventually, he did. His research feeds Pakistan, India, and China. People say he has saved one billion lives! That is probably not counting the number of people alive because those previous people lived!