DuPont CEO Opens World Food Prize Bourlag Symposium
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| Ellen Kullman |
Speaking to a standing-room-only audience, DuPont CEO
Ellen Kullman opened the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, this week.
Along with Patricia Woertz, chairman, president, and CEO, Archer, Daniels, Midland, Ellen encouraged participants to develop and share agricultural innovations. Together, they called for new public-private partnerships to address the significant challenge of feeding an expanding worldwide population.
“About 50% of DuPont research & development spend is dedicated to this megatrend,” Ellen said. “We must double our agricultural output if we are to meet the needs of the world population in 2050, and a large portfolio of DuPont products and solutions – existing and in the pipeline – address this global need. Because our mission is sustainable growth, we believe we must also reduce the agricultural environmental footprint and conserve the precious resources available to us.
“The agricultural industry must accelerate the rate of food productivity,” she added. “We believe we can increase corn and soybean yields by 40% in the next nine years alone at DuPont. And, it’s not just us. Others are making similar commitments. The global productivity gap is not an issue that any one company, one research center, one university or one government can solve.”
The symposium focused on the challenges of feeding growing global populations when available arable land and resources are shifting and, in some cases, decreasing. Today, starvation afflicts more than one in six people in the world. That’s roughly equivalent to the combined populations of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Even for those who have enough to eat, as many as half do not have adequate nutrients, vitamins and minerals for good health.
“The World Food prize does important work in acknowledging the contributions of thousands around the world to increase the quantity and availability of nutritious food,” Ellen said. “We at DuPont are proud to participate.”
About the World Food Prize
The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing -- without regard to race, religion, nationality or political beliefs -- the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
The prize was the creation of Norman Bourlag, a winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize and a scientist with connections to DuPont and the Pioneer Hi-Bred business.
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| Dr. Norman E. Borlaug founded the World Food Prize in 1986. Photo courtesy World Food Prize organization. |
In 1940, Pioneer company founder Henry A. Wallace became U.S. Vice President. After the election, Wallace took a trip to Mexico, where he found corn to be an important part of most families' diet. However, the yield in Mexico was much lower than that of American farmers who planted hybrid corn varieties.
Wallace proposed an idea to the Rockefeller Foundation to create agriculture experimental stations to develop improved corn varieties adapted for the climate and soil of Mexico. One of the first scientists to join the station in Mexico was Norman Borlaug, who had worked as a microbiologist at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del., prior to his work for the foundation.
Between 1944 and 1960, Borlaug dedicated himself to increasing Mexico's wheat production. Twenty years after the station was built, corn production in Mexico had doubled, and wheat production had increased five-fold.
In 1986, Borlaug established the World Food Prize, awarding $250,000 each year to a person whose work improves the world's food supply. In July 2007, Bourlag received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by the U.S. Congress.
