Print This PageMonsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program
Challenge: Feed 9 billion people
The world’s population is estimated to grow from 6.8 billion people today to 9.4 billion people by 2050. Leading experts predict we will need to produce more food over the next 50 years than has been produced in the past 10,000 years combined. Compounding this challenge are the effects of climate change and limited natural resources.
Rice and wheat are two staple crops critical to the food security of billions of people around the world. Together, these two crops feed more than half the world’s population. However, increases in rice and wheat productivity lag behind other crops. Reasons for this include lack of adequate investment to improve varieties and yield, diminishing land and water resources, and environmental stresses. To overcome these challenges and meet growing demand, it’s important to ensure future plant breeders are educated in advanced technologies and have an appreciation for how public sector research can help meet the needs of developed and developing countries.
Are you a part of the solution to this global challenge? If so, there’s an opportunity for you.
Read Monsanto’s Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program Press Release
View the Program Brochure
(.pdf 991K)
"We must develop ways to increase crop production on the same land area if we want to preserve land for other uses such as for parks, wildlife, forestry and grazing lands into the future. That is what Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program is committed to do for rice and wheat."
–Dr. Edward Runge, Program Director and Chair of the
Panel of Judges
