CWC Video 3 Script

Norman Ernest Borlaug was born on March 25, 1914 on a farm near Cresco, Iowa.After completing his elementary and high school education in Cresco, Borlaug attended the University of Minnesota to study forestry. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937, and worked for the U.S. Forestry Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho. He returned to the University of Minnesota to study plant pathology, and received the master’s degree in 1939 and a doctorate in 1942.

After he received his doctorate degree, Norman Borlaug performed research on industrial and agricultural bactericides, fungicides, and preservatives.

After a few years, he went on to work as a plant pathologist. In this role he organized and directed the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico. This program involved scientific research in genetics, plant breeding, plant pathology, entomology, agronomy, soil science, and cereal technology. 

Norman Borlaug decided that his life's work would be to help people grow more food in areas where crop failures were regular facts of life. Borlaug founded the International Maize and Wheat Center in Mexico.

He collaborated with scientists from Mexico, India, and Pakistan, among others,  to adapt new wheat to new lands and in gaining acceptance for their production. Within twenty years, he was successful in finding a high-yielding short-strawed wheat. Additionally, this wheat was disease-resistant. Let’s examine the Reading Page to learn more about this wheat and discover why Norman Borlaug is regarded as an important pioneer in the global agriculture industry.