E-Letter responses to:

n-week: Dennis Normile INTERNATIONAL AID: As Food Prices Rise, U.S. Support for Agricultural Centers Wilts Science 2008; 320: 303a [Summary] [Full text] [PDF]

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CGIAR Funding Problems and Science, the Journal

Robert McK. Bird   (11 August 2008)

CGIAR Funding Problems and Science, the Journal 11 August 2008
Robert McK. Bird, Botanist Crop Science Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 12695, USA Respond to this E-Letter: Re: CGIAR Funding Problems and Science, the Journal	It is extraordinary to be considering reductions in the United States' contributions to the Consultative Group on International Agricutural Research (CGIAR) system (News of the Week, "As food prices rise, U.S. support for agricultural centers wilts," by D. Normile, 18 April 2008, p. 303) in these years of increasing demands for food and worsening crop disease effects (1). The many CGIAR centers provide critical research and training that affects innumerable national breeding and seed production programs and private seed companies. Moreover, they guard in cold storage vast numbers of germplasm samples that contain alleles that can prove important in ongoing studies. To quote from a petition in support of the CGIAR: "These tremendously efficient centers do work that is done nowhere else, and already operate on shoestring budgets." "The planned cuts would be a true tragedy of U.S. foreign policy." "[T]he U.S. and other developed nations have also seen unprecedented crop production gains as a result of the CGIAR work. This is the most senseless budget cut I have ever seen in my life" (2). In the past I have worked at CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico), in the Maize Germplasm Bank (1973 to 1975) and the Applied Biotechnology Center (1994 to 1996). The center and its staff have long provided a stimulating and rewarding environment with results that have improved food production around the world. The CIMMYT Wheat Program, then directed by Dr. Norman Borlaug, even received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. I cannot imagine how bad the world's food situation would be without the efforts of the international centers over the past 60 years. The important news cited in D. Normile's article needs to be read by people around the world, especially in the United States. However, it took some searching to find the full artice online without a subscription to Science. While I can certainly manage the aquisition options, the farmer in North Dakota or the breeder in Nicaragua who has a vested interest in keeping informed may not. Please make news topics free and easily available to the public for a year. Robert McK. Bird Crop Science Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. References 1. D. Mackenzie, New Scientist 2598, 6 (April 2007). 2. Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, CGIAR Support Petition 1–100 (http://www.genetics.uga.edu/jlblab/CGIAR.htm) (6 pages, updated 13 May 2008).