Director General Thomas Lumpkin passes the torch

CIMMYT said goodbye to former Director General Thomas Lumpkin, who retired in June after seven years of dedicated service. “The entire team has worked hard to build up CIMMYT,” said Lumpkin on announcing his departure. “We’ve trusted each other; we’ve taken on challenges and risks. We rebuilt this institution, and we brought its reputation back to what it was.”

Under Lumpkin’s leadership during 2008-15, CIMMYT greatly expanded its partnerships, funding, reputation and impacts. As part of this, India and CIMMYT strengthened their longstanding partnership and, through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), established in 2011 the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA).

German investment helps secure CIMMYT’s germplasm bank

On 4 September, 2015, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Mexico, Victor Elbing, inaugurated a photovoltaic solar power system at CIMMYT headquarters. Installed under the supervision of the German Agency for International Development (GIZ) with funding from the Federal Government of Germany, the 920 solar panels represent an investment of 750,000 euros, generate up to 34,750 kWh per month and serve as a reliable and sustainable energy source for the cold rooms holding 28,000 maize and 150,000 wheat seed collections in the CIMMYT germplasm bank.

Staff gathers for Science Week

Held at CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico during 15-18 June, 2015 Science Week brought scientists from CIMMYT offices worldwide to report on successes and challenges, review activities and jointly plan future work to attain CIMMYT’s mission. CIMMYT staff from around the world came together to discuss key points and identify new opportunities for improving work quality, institutional learning, work plans for coming decades and CIMMYT’s role in science and development. During the week, Director General Martin Kropff presented a draft of the CIMMYT strategy for comment and discussion.

The new strategy will be set in place to guide the organization until 2020. Also proposed during Science Week by Philip Pardey, professor of Science and Technology Policy at University of Minnesota, was the need to develop and apply the new “International Agricultural Prospects” model that projects global agricultural consumption and production to 2050. He expressed the need to increase sustainable agricultural productivity growth, including attention to research that maintains past productivity gains.

The International Wheat Conference

The 9th International Wheat Conference (IWC) was held in Sydney, Australia, in late September. The conference, which is held every five years, dissected topics ranging from the intricate inner workings of the wheat genome to nutritional misrepresentations of wheat in the popular media. Keynote speakers included CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff; director of the CIMMYT global wheat program (GWP), Hans Braun; and 2014 World Food Prize Laureate and former director of GWP, Sanjaya Rajaram. Preceded by a four-day workshop hosted by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) focusing on Ug99 wheat rust disease, the event resulted in extensive media coverage of the longstanding and enormously successful Australia-CIMMYT wheat research partnership.

Ravi Singh wins China Friendship Award

Ravi Singh, wheat breeder and CIMMYT distinguished scientist, was awarded the China Friendship Award along with 50 foreigners from 21 countries working in China. The Friendship Award is China’s highest prize for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress. Singh’s key contributions to China agricultural development over the past 30 years involve sharing improved germplasm, spreading knowledge about rust-disease resistance genetics and leading various trainings as part of an agreement between CIMMYT and the Chinese government. In addition to this national award, Singh has received three friendship awards from provinces in China.