Agricultural Techniques in Mexico: Borlaug Faces Opposition
"It often appeared to me that I had made a dreadful mistake in accepting the position in Mexico." -Norman Borlaug
Norman Borlaug initially faced obstacles during his time in Mexico due to lack of resources, cultural differences, and by trying to introduce new agricultural techniques that people that opposed. However, he overcame them due to his perseverance as a leader.
In 1941, the Rockefeller Foundation sent out people to survey Mexican agriculture. This led to the development of the Mexican Agricultural Program (MAP), and in 1944 Norman Borlaug was hired.
Borlaug believed that the greatest restriction to Mexico in wheat production was the stem rust disease. He taught the Mexican associates how to crossbreed strains of wheat to obtain a disease resistant variety. They used the shuttle breeding tactic which allowed them to make two generations of wheat every year. The plants produced were very adaptable as they could thrive at various conditions. However, they grew too tall and lodged. So in 1954, Borlaug crossed his disease-resistant wheat with dwarf wheats from Japan. This resulted in shorter, strong high yielding disease resistant wheat that produced two to three times as much grain.
“Borlaug says those first couple of years in Mexico were unbearable. There was an acute lack of trained scientists and equipment. The farmers were hostile toward the wheat program because of serious crop losses in 1939-1941 from stem rust. He also found himself pitted against elements of Mexican culture, most notably the conviction among some of his Mexican counterparts that they were above getting dirty. His inability to speak Spanish compounded his frustrations.” -Mark Stuertz (2002)
To convince the hostile farmers, Norman Borlaug encouraged them to grow the seeds of the "miracle wheat" side by side with the farmers traditional varieties. When farmers saw the results, they quickly adopted the varieties. They quickly spread throughout Latin America and Mexico's wheat production quadrupled.