The Father of the Green Revolution | #251
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Hello friends
In issue #249 and #250 we explored the stories of individuals who, though not household names, left a significant mark on the world. Those editions leaned toward the sobering side, so for this one, we’re shining a light on someone whose contributions brought immense good to the globe.
In this week’s edition we feature the fantastic exploits of Norman Borlaug - the father of the Green Revolution.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
Norman Borlaug was an unassuming plant pathologist from Iowa who believed that rust (the fungal kind, not the metal kind) could be conquered, and that wheat could be made to grow like never before. He was a good college wrestler in the University of Minnesota and later in life was inducted into the collegiate National Wrestling Hall of Fame
His real story begins in the 1940 when parts of the world were still reeling from the effects of World War II.
Working in the heat and dust of Mexican fields, Borlaug tinkered not with chemicals, but with crops. He crossbred thousands of wheat strains by hand, sometimes sleeping in the fields, sometimes going months without a break. What he developed was revolutionary: high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties that could thrive even in tough conditions. It wasn’t flashy, but it worked.
And then it really worked.
First Mexico, then India and Pakistan—countries teetering on the brink of mass starvation—saw their harvests transform. Famines predicted by experts simply... didn’t happen. He saw that food insecurity was a principle cause of violence and civil unrest and that peace could be secured through agricultural development. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations.
They called it the Green Revolution, and Borlaug became its quiet architect. In 1970, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—not for peace through diplomacy, but peace through dinner. “You can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs,” he liked to say.
By many different estimates, the number of lives saved by Borlaug's efforts are in the range of one billion.
In the annals of history, few have changed the world so profoundly—and so generously.
PS: For folks who’ve attended a Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA) quiz held at the their regular venue in Bangalore - Institute of Agricultural Technologists - the auditorium in the building was inaugurated by the man himself.
From IWTK, with love 💌
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