Full Version - Water for Food Institute - University of Nebraska

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GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON WATER FOR FOOD 2
President’s Welcome
A Visionary Gift for the 21st Century
James B. Milliken
President, University of Nebraska
The Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation’s
$50 million gift to the University of Nebraska
to develop the Water for Food Institute is a
visionary gift that began with a visionary man,
James B. Milliken said. Robert Daugherty
returned to his home state of Nebraska after
World War II to found the world’s most successful
irrigation company. In his ongoing commitment
to water use efficiency, he was a leader in the
critical challenges facing agriculture.
Nebraska may seem an unlikely place to tackle
those challenges with a new Water for Food
Institute, Milliken said, but the state has a long
history of serious, bold people who have helped
change the world. Warren Buffett, one of the
world’s wealthiest and most philanthropic
people, has created enormous wealth for many,
which has benefited not only the University of
Nebraska, Buffett’s alma mater, but many other
institutions. The Omahan has not had to stray far
from home to be an important financial figure.
Other Nebraskans have revolutionized agriculture,
saving millions of lives and improving millions
more. George Beadle, born in Wahoo, Neb.,
and a University of Nebraska–Lincoln graduate,
made significant contributions in molecular,
cellular and developmental biology, earning a
1958 Nobel Prize with Edward Tatum for the
“one-gene, one-enzyme” theory. Beadle’s
contemporary, Henry Beachell, also a Nebraska
native and UNL alumnus, worked in the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s rice breeding
program. Later, at the International Rice
James B. Milliken
Research Institute, he developed rice strains that
dramatically increased yields, saving millions of
lives. He won the 1996 World Food Prize and,
working into his 90s, established a genetic seed
bank for rice.
Norman Borlaug, an Iowan who attended the
University of Minnesota, worked in Mexico in the
1940s and 1950s, breeding new disease-resistant
wheat varieties. His work led to a sixfold increase
in yields. In the 1960s, he convinced Pakistan
and India of the value of wheat and is credited
with saving millions from famine. Borlaug’s work
played a leading role in the Green Revolution,
for which he won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.
The next Green Revolution must be greener
than the first, Milliken said, citing Bill Gates,
who has called for considering small farmers’
needs, exploring a wide range of techniques,
adopting solutions to local circumstances and
ensuring sustainability.