The man who fed the world

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2019

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1970 the American scientist, Norman Borlaug, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work developing disease-resistant crops. At the time famine and malnutrition were claiming millions of lives across the world, particularly in South Asia. Dr Borlaug’s work meant countries like India were able to become self-sufficient. Critics said the new grain varieties were too reliant on chemical fertilizers, but it’s thought millions of lives were saved. Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to Professor Ronnie Coffman, student and friend of Norman Borlaug.

(Photo: Dr Norman Borlaug in a field of wheat. Credit CIMMYT International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds.
0:29.2	Hello and welcome to this witness history podcast from the BBC World Service
0:38.0	important moments from the past you need to know about. I'm Rebecca Kesby and today I'm taking you back to a moment so
0:45.3	groundbreaking it's credited with saving a significant proportion of the Earth's
0:50.5	human population and it started with the work of one agricultural scientist
0:55.9	Norman Borlog who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his role in the Green
1:02.2	Revolution.
1:04.0	The man who fed the world, Norman Borlogg praised saving more lives than anyone in human history.
1:10.0	He started his work in Mexico in the 1960s developing high-yielding
1:15.1	disease-resistant wheat that boosted harvests in what became known as the Green
1:20.1	Revolution. Ronnie Kaufman was a young postgraduate in 1970.
1:25.2	He was Dr. Norman Borlog's first and only PhD student at his research station in Mexico.
1:32.2	Ronnie was with him the moment he found out he'd won the
1:34.9	Nobel Peace Prize. Oh I remember that very well. We were in the field in the
1:39.8	Tyluka Valley near Mexico City. You know hard at work and we looked up and the major irrigation canal that divided the farm. And Dr. Borlach said, whoa, that
	...

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