One of the heroes of the real Green Revolution, the international cooperation which led to the development of new strains of grain during the 1940s-70s, making possible the huge growth in population worldwide, Yuan Longping, died on May 22, and is being remembered with love throughout China and around the world. The Green Revolution was launched in Mexico by Henry Wallace, the Agriculture Secretary and later Vice President under FDR, with the scientist Norman Borlaug, setting up an international scientific research center for the study and production of new strains of corn and wheat. Ultimately this became part of a series of centers worldwide focussed on other grains, including the international center for rice in the Philippines.
Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice,” developed new strains of rice in the 1970s increasing rice production by 20%, and continued with new discoveries throughout his life, and working with countries in Africa, Asia and Ibero-America. In 2004, Yuan was awarded the World Food Prize personally by Norman Borlaug, an award that Borlaug established in 1986.
