Agricultural Innovators Recognized As Dialoguenext Conference Charts A Path For The Future Of Food Production

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 9, 2025 /EINPresswire / -- Proceedings from the DialogueNEXT global agricultural gathering concluded today celebrating an array of Indian and global innovators shaping the future of global food production.

The event's theme,“Take it to the Farmer,” captures the prescient words of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and World Food Prize founder Dr. Norman Borlaug near the end of his life. His semi-dwarf wheat varieties were introduced in India 60 years ago, kickstarting the country's green revolution. Within a decade, India's wheat production had nearly doubled and the country moved more closely to self-sufficiency in production, staving off what was broadly predicted to be a looming famine.

Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in partnership with CIMMYT, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), this year's DialogueNEXT featured insights from across the agri-food value chain.

The event included insights from Madhura Swaminathan, daughter of the first World Food Prize Laureate M.S. Swaminathan, and Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Borlaug. Both forebears are known as fathers of the first green revolution.

“Two generations on, DialogueNEXT has mobilized the leading agricultural thinkers of our day to shape the future of our food production,” said Madhura Swaminathan, Member, World Food Prize Foundation Council of Advisors and Professor and Head of the Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore Centre.“The challenge today is even more formidable, having to deliver unprecedented amounts of food for a growing global population while carefully managing its climate and biodiversity impacts, use of water and land resources and equitable access for all.”

In particular, farmers from across India participated in panel discussions, voicing their needs and lived realities as food producers. Among them, smallholder farmers Punam Devi and Sima Devi from Bihar-each cultivating no more than an acre of land-took center stage in a fireside chat. They shared their journey of resilience and adaptability, describing how adopting appropriate machinery and technologies such as zero-till wheat helped them save considerable labor and time.

At the event, CIMMYT announced the launch of the Agricultural Resilience for Conflict Prevention Initiative (ARC) to address the converging crises of climate change, conflict, and pandemics threatening global food systems. ARC is anchored on three commitments: first, strengthening food security and agricultural livelihoods as a pathway to peace in conflict-affected societies; second, advancing food sovereignty to protect nations from trade, climate and political shocks; and third, recognizing food as a strategic commodity that should unite rather than divide.

CIMMYT-BISA also launched the Atlas of Climate Adaptation in South Asian Agriculture (ACASA), in collaboration with national agricultural research systems across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This open-access digital platform uses high-resolution gridded databases to map climate risks at a granular level for South Asia, a region responsible for producing one quarter of the world's total consumed food. The ACASA platform then highlights practical adaptation strategies to guide climate-smart investments and policies to drive more resilient agricultural production decision-making.

Other sessions during the event highlighted the potential of greater South-South collaboration in sharing best practices, the agri-food sector's role in maintaining and restoring peace across regions, and the importance of attracting the next generation of young farmers and innovators into the sector.

Meanwhile, Ms. Neelam Tyagi, from district Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, received the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Innovative Farmer Award by the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) for her pioneering work in mixed-crop farming. Tyagi has successfully integrated sugarcane with turmeric to boost farmer income by 80 per cent while also reducing pesticide use and soil erosion. Her establishment of an agro-processing unit under the Nitara Brand has created direct market linkages for over 4,000 farmers, eliminating middlemen and increasing their profits by 20-25 per cent.

By combining intercropping, value-addition and direct marketing, Ms. Tyagi's innovations have proven significantly more profitable than traditional methods, increasing per-acre profits by more than double. Her work embodies Dr. Borlaug's spirit of innovation and dedication to ensuring food security and farmer welfare.

The event also recognized Dr. Surinder Vasal, 2000 World Food Prize Laureate whose decades of research and leadership in improving the productivity and nutritional content of maize have improved the diets of millions of the world's most underfed and poorly nourished citizens. After the U.S., India claims the highest number of World Food Prize Laureates, with eight nationals having been recognized over the past four decades.

DialogueNEXT in India is the second part of the Foundation's three-part global series retracing the legacy of Dr. Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and father of the Green Revolution and founder of the World Food Prize. These dialogues build momentum toward the Foundation's Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue , to be held in Des Moines, Iowa, October 21–23, 2025.

Harvey Presence
Marchmont Communications
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