More than the Sum of Its Parts: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR (https://www.cgiar.org/)

Abstract

In the 1960s, there was widespread concern that human population growth, particularly in developing nations, would soon exceed the world’s food supply. For many developing countries, most arable land was already in production. Scientific attention turned to increasing agricultural productivity. “Increasing the productivity of existing land, therefore, appeared essential both to meeting food needs as population increased and incomes rose and to promoting a thriving agriculture on which the development of the rest of the economy depended” (Baum & Lejeune, 1986, p. 2). Today, the impacts of climate change and anticipated global population of 9 billion people by 2050 are making these same concerns paramount. One organization that has steadfastly supported agricultural research to address global food needs for over 50 years is CGIAR, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Agricultural research in the developing world during the colonial era focused on cash crop production for export. As concerns arose about alleviating poverty and addressing food insecurity in these regions, agricultural research shifted to food crops. In Mexico, the Rockefeller Foundation had been working to address public health issues. Beginning in the 1940s, Henry A. Wallace was instrumental in encouraging the Rockefeller Foundation to branch out to support agricultural research as a means to address public health (Culver & Hyde, 2000). Wallace, a corn farmer and breeder from Iowa, was serving as the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture and he was well-regarded by Mexican agriculturalists. Wallace formed Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the world’s first hybrid seed company, greatly increasing corn yields in Iowa (Hyde, 2003). The Mexican Ministry of Agriculture created the Mexican Agricultural Program with the Rockefeller Foundation https://doi.org/10.1080/10496505.2023.2225247