Norman Borlaug - Revolutionary

And now I call upon you, Norman Earnest Borlaug, to come to the rostrum and receive the diploma and the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1930 obviously I am personally honored beyond all dreams by this election but the obligations imposed by the honors are far greater than the honor itself both s concerns me personally and also the army of hunger fighters in which I volunteered and so I want to share not only the present honors but also the future obligations with all my companions in arms for the Green Revolution has not yet been won peace is more than the absence of war peace is the absence of hunger the green revolution is a bloodless battle it's the fight against famine and the fight for improved agricultural production this is the first time the Nobel Prize for Peace has been awarded to anyone in the field of Agriculture dr. Norman Borlaug's revolutionary attempts to improve wheat strains have done much to ease the pangs of world hunger born in Cresco Iowa in 1914 Norman Borlaug pursued his commitment early to fight against hunger for the last quarter century he has been engaged in more than one skirmish for the Green Revolution since the age of 30 dr. Borlaug has been in Mexico today he is director of the international maize and wheat Improvement Center near Mexico City working on the most diversified wheat breeding program in the world he is but one man in a vast army devoted to winning the Green Revolution a battle that is far from ending I've been here for 26 years working in week all of this time and it's been fascinating to me not only from what has been accomplished in wheat but more important in the training of young people for example in the last eight years we have had 150 young wheat scientists from about 25 different countries of the world who have come to study and work with us they came from Brazil Morocco Tunisia Egypt Syria Jordan Iraq Turkey Ethiopia Kenya Sudan I don't know where all else we have a very truly international staff and an international staff trainees I am particularly pleased to have been named for this price for this simple reason that agriculture is always downgraded agriculture is a dirty word in the world and yet food is pretty important three times a day it's the first time as far as I know that anyone working in applied agriculture apply agricultural research and production has ever been considered to been merit of this kind of thing not me as individual but all of these people who've contributed to it and I hope this will bring more support for agriculture and the technology or the application of science there is plenty of support and has been for theoretical but dirty hand scientists don't get very much support seed is only one aspect of the change that is taking place in the so-called Green Revolution seed is not magic but seed can be a catalyst a certain kind of seat it has two built-in capacity to produce high yields when the other conditions are favorable it's not just this right the scene it's the whole technology that goes with it and this is what we have insisted on in all countries in which we have worked that there's no magic there has to be a good so-called package of practices which includes the improved seed there has to be available fertilizer group of economic considerations taken into account I have said that if we keep pushing ahead and if governments move aggressively to support both research and production campaigns there's hope that we can produce adequate amounts of food for even this rapidly growing population for the next 20 to 30 years one farmer can produce enough food for something on the order now 33 people but in a large part this comes from his wise use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides now if we say that pesticides and fertilizers cannot be used well then we can simply say we can't produce enough food the people the world must decide that either we use agricultural chemicals and use them wisely the right amount the right kinds to produce the food we need or we will all starve little point to have a crop of let's say 50 to 70 bushels approaching harvest and have it destroyed simply because you didn't make one application of the right kind of insecticide now the safeguards based on tox illogical studies and feeding studies from all sorts of different devices that has been used by Food and Drug Administration and by various other agencies that are involved in this overall question USDA for example I think that they have been reasonable in their approach and I think that we should not panic at this time and say that we have been lenient to the point of injuring our whole public health structure I just don't believe this I think that the controls have been good we learn as we move forward there have been accidents and those can be corrected and if there are certain chemicals that because of the very nature of the compound it's long persistence in accumulation then we need to take another look at this but to condemn the whole liar cultural chemical pesticide industry is wrong the general public has become aware of ecology and the interacting forces that do influence the ecological makeup of a given area this has come about relatively recently but of course many people dealing with forest water land use have been aware of this for a long time back scientists and also many public administrators so now many are carrying banners very high for certain aspects of environment improvement and this is natural some of it is very good I have some general feeling for this overall aspect of environment and agriculture and proper use of chemicals because I started out in forestry in silviculture in ecology and in all of these interrelated fields which have to do with forest use land use wildlife and agricultural use in its broadest sense and as I look at this overall picture I am concerned and to approach the problem in the right way in perspective and with common sense is good and I'm all for it but just to suddenly jump off and say we can no longer use agricultural chemicals would be like saying let's shut down our industries also because this is essentially what agriculture is it's a food production industry I've said time and time again we are all too inclined to fragment this entire problem of population the population explosion into our own little biased strips there are eight or ten interrelated sides of this picture the overall global one is the environment without food of course we only live a few days but what about opportunities for employment what about housing what about recreation public health services for take care of the ill and all of these are part of the overall picture today everyone talks about the environment the environment and the decoration of the environment is just one other total complex hodgepodge of too many people man also has acquired the means to reduce the rate of human reproduction effectively and humanely he is using his power store is increasing the rate and amount of food production but he is not so far using adequately his potential for reducing the rate of human reproduction the result is that the rate of population increase exceeds the rate of increase in food production in some areas of the world there can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort fighting alone they may win temporary skirmishes but United they can win a decisive and lasting victory to provide food and the other amenities of a progressive civilization for the betterment of all mankind let our will say that this shall be sold and to show my appreciation for this great honor I will do my best to help make it Seoul so long as I shall live manga