Averting Famine
In the 1940s, conditions in Mexico were dismal. Farmers were using antiquated methods of farming that allowed for little advance. Agriculture was at a stall. Mexico imported over 60% of its total consumption, crops were plagued with stem rust, and the threat of mass starvation was a looming reality.
"My work to combat hunger started in Mexico with the Rockefeller Foundation. Inspired by Henry Wallace, it was the first ever attempt to help food deficit nations by a foreign organization."
- Norman Borlaug
Then in 1943 the Rockefeller Foundation in collaboration with the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture established the Mexican Government-Rockefeller Foundation Cooperative Agricultural Program. The objective was to alleviate food deficit in Mexico that was leaving thousands hungry. A student of potential, Borlaug was asked by Stakman to assume direction of the Wheat Improvement component of the program, developing stem rust resistance in wheat. Stakman assured, “Norman you are the best man for the job. You have excellent background and training in plant breeding and pathology; you have broad interest in land use from agriculture to forestry, and you have the energy and motivation. Its tough, demanding task you’re being offered. Its a long, grinding project. But if I can encourage you, Norman, I'll say this: it would be a worthwhile thing to do, to put bread in those hungry bellies in Mexico.”
Article Heading from the New York Times Newspaper Archive
Concerned with the ethics of a vastly malnourished population, Borlaug accepted. Motivated by his conscience, Norman assumed the responsibility of producing sustainable agriculture in a country that could barely provide a basic human right to well over half its population.
“After preliminary work in 1943, plant breeders, soil scientists, plant pathologists, and entomologists working as a team, began a concentrated attack on the various aspects of wheat production in 1944.”
- Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize speech