Research to Feed a Growing World

Murano offered answers—conducting research, publishing results and teaching students—but the Father of the Green Revolution, who is credited with saving a billion people from starvation, thought these efforts weren’t helping people directly enough. “Finally, he smiled, pointed his finger at me and said, ‘It’s up to you that whatever you do in life helps people directly.’ And my gosh, I never forgot that,” Murano recounted.

Today, Murano, who made history in 2008 as Texas A&M’s first woman and first Hispanic American president, is the director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development. Filling this position, she knows it’s her job to ensure the institute honors Borlaug’s directive by playing a pivotal role in fighting world hunger. The institute does this by supporting small farmers worldwide, such as introducing more disease-resilient coffee varieties in Latin America and finding ways for Africans to raise livestock in a climate-smart way.

Whenever possible, the institute helps students get directly involved with agriculture around the globe. For example, Dr. Jack Elliot, regional director for the institute’s Africa programs, worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service to send students to Ghana where they taught children about agriculture, conducted field demonstrations, encouraged entrepreneurship projects and developed leaders. “It’s basically our version of 4-H on an international scale,” Murano described. The program was such a success that the Department of Agriculture awarded the institute $500,000 to deploy nine Texas A&M students to Guatemala for 10 months this academic year.

An initiative with the potential for even greater impact is entirely devoted to furthering Borlaug’s vision by ensuring that the “next generation of hunger fighters,” as Borlaug was known to call agriculture students, have the means to rise to their potential. In 2019, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences created the Norman Borlaug Endowed Research Scholars Program through a $1 million matching gift from Cactus Feeders, a beef and pork producer in the South and Midwest.

The gift was one of the largest contributions to the college during the university’s successful $4.25 billion Lead by Example campaign. “In the 50th anniversary year of Dr. Borlaug’s Nobel Prize, Cactus Feeders was pleased to make the lead gift to establish the Borlaug Scholars Program,” said Dr. Michael Engler, Cactus Feeders’ chairman of the board at the time of the gift’s announcement. “We’d like to thank the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for recognizing Dr. Borlaug’s deep connection to Texas A&M and its mission of educating future generations of agriculturalists to nourish the world.”

The college has raised another $1 million in matching gifts from generous donors for a total of $2 million. Funds will award 10 undergraduate scholarships of $4,000 per year for a maximum of four years and four graduate-level scholarships of $10,000 per year while recipients pursue their advanced degrees. The first scholars were named this fall.

“It’s important that we attract the most talented individuals to agriculture, food and nutrition research to continue Borlaug’s legacy and to further elevate the global reputation of Texas A&M as an institution devoted to solving world hunger,” Murano said.

Dr. Cliff Lamb, director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, said the college is hoping to expand the number of scholars through additional gifts. “We would love to grow from 10 undergraduates and four graduates to 20 undergraduates and 10 graduates,” Lamb said. A $100,000 gift would endow a scholarship for one undergraduate, while a $250,000 gift would support a graduate student.

In addition to the monetary rewards and the prestige of being a Norman Borlaug scholar, recipients will benefit from special programming such as symposiums where they can present their work and discuss their agricultural experiences. “There will be significant opportunities for Borlaug scholars,” Lamb added.

While the Borlaug Institute’s focus is international agriculture, students are not required to concentrate on this area. Scholars will be selected from the following disciplines: plant sciences, nutrition sciences, food sciences, environmental sciences, agricultural engineering, education and leadership, economics, and policy.