Dr. Andrew Colin McClung ( - ) was an American scientist who received the 2006

World Food Prize The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nor ...

for his role in helping transform the

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

– a region of vast, once infertile tropical high plains stretching across Brazil – into highly productive cropland. McClung's research on the

soil degradation Soil retrogression and degradation are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. Retrogression is primarily due to soil erosion and corresponds to a phenomenon where succession reverts the land to ...

plaguing central Brazil showed that acidity, toxic levels of aluminum, and deficiencies of several micronutrients in the soil limited plant growth. Moreover, McClung developed a treatment which employed dolomitic lime to eliminate the aluminum toxicity of the soils, supply calcium and magnesium, and modify the availability of other nutrients. In the five decades since McClung's initial discovery, Brazil's farmers have been able to produce sufficient crops not only to feed and sustain a population that has tripled to over 180 million people, but also to emerge as an international leader in agricultural production. Adding to the contributions of fellow 2006 World Food Prize Laureates, Edson Lobato and Alysson Paolinelli of Brazil, McClung played an integral part in making agricultural development possible in the Cerrado, a region named from Portuguese words meaning “closed, inaccessible land.” Cornell alumnus Andrew Colin McClung reaps 2006 World Food Prize
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClung, A. Colin American soil scientists Cornell University alumni Agriculture and food award winners 1923 births 2015 deaths