The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI - originally named the Global Rust Initiative) was founded in response to recommendations of a committee of international experts who met to consider a response to the threat the global food supply posed by the

Ug99 Ug99 is a lineage of wheat stem rust (''Puccinia graminis'' f. sp. ''tritici''), which is present in wheat fields in several countries in Africa and the Middle East and is predicted to spread rapidly through these regions and possibly further afie ...

strain of wheat rust. The BGRI was renamed the Borlaug Global Rust initiative in honor of

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

pioneer and

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Laureate Dr.

Norman Borlaug Norman Ernest Borlaug (; March 25, 1914September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug was awarded multiple ...

who worked to establish and lead the Global Rust Initiative. The BGRI has the overarching objective of systematically reducing the world’s vulnerability to

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

, and

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

rusts of wheat and advocating/facilitating the evolution of a sustainable international system to contain the threat of wheat rusts and continue the enhancements in productivity required to withstand future global threats to wheat.

Executive committee

*Chair: Jeanie Borlaug Laube

Permanent Members

*Ronnie Coffman (

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

), Vice Chairman of BGRI *Martin Kropf, Director General,

CIMMYT The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known - even in English - by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT for ''Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo'') is a non-profit research-for-development organization that develops im ...

, *Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General,

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

, *

Mahmoud Solh Mahmoud Solh (born Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese agricultural economist and genetic scientist who was formerly the Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, ICARDA The International Center for ...

Director General,

ICARDA The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), a member of CGIAR, supported by the CGIAR Fund, is a non-profit agricultural research institute that aims to improve the livelihoods of the resource-poor across the ...

*Clayton Campanhola, Director of Agricultural Support Systems

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Rotating Members

* John Manners, Director,

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

Agriculture * David Wall, Acting Director Research, Development and Technology,

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC; sometimes Ag-Canada; french: Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada)''Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Agriculture ...

* Huajin Tang, VP for International Collaboration, China Academy of Agricultural Sciences * Lene Lange, Director of Research,

Aalborg University Aalborg University (AAU) is a Danish public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen founded in 1974. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subjects within humanities ...

, Denmark * Fentahun Mengistu, Director General, Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research * Abd El Moneam El Banna, President, Egyptian Agricultural Research Center * Eskander Zand, Deputy Minister and Head, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Iran * Eliud Kireger, Director General, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization * Masum Burak, Director General of the General Directorate of Agricultural Research, Turkey * Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council * Jose Costa, Deputy Administrator, Crop Production and Protection,

USDA-ARS The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

* Alvaro Roel, President, INIA, Uruguay

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , last=Dahm , first=Madeline , title=Let there be food to eat , website=

, date=2020-12-09 , url=http://www.cimmyt.org/news/let-there-be-food-to-eat/ , access-date=2020-12-11

External links

Borlaug Global Rust Initiative website
Wheat diseases Phytopathology Agronomy Plant breeding Genetic engineering and agriculture