"[[Borlaug]] was an American scientist, born in 1914, shortly after [[Haber]] and [[Bosch]] had their fertiliser breakthrough. In the 1940s he was employed by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and sent off to [[Mexico]] to try to solve a problem that many had already given up on. [[Mexican]] farmers were struggling with the problem of ‘stem rust’. **Their wheat was being infected by a fungus, Puccinia graminis, which causes disease in the plant**. It’s a common, but terrible problem for cereal production. The rust makes the harvest and yield of wheat very poor: it sucks up the essential nutrients that the crop needs to grow. ([Location 2532](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0C3X6X695&location=2532))" --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[technology]], [[farming]], [[cereals]], [[food-security]], [[just-transition]] **Source** -- [[260103133118 - B - Not the End of the World]]