Our Mission

The Borlaug Training Foundation (BTF) is an independent, 501(c)(3) registered non-profit corporation, established to facilitate cutting edge, agronomic education, and skills development under dynamic technological and climate-change scenarios for young scientists from low-and middle-income countries.

Training Opportunities

The Borlaug Training Foundation supports the development of agricultural scientists who fight hunger by improving crops around the world. Well-trained scientists improve crops to provide improved nutrition and lift families out of poverty and provide hope for the future.

Mentoring

In addition to in-field agricultural training, the Borlaug Training Foundation also supports mentoring. Our efforts are targeted toward assisting trainees with career development in order to foster effectiveness of young agricultural scientists.

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Farmer to Farmer (F2F)

The Borlaug Training Foundation implements farmer-to-farmer exchanges to link farmers to their counterparts in other countries and to researchers, so that they can learn from each other and discover new ideas to try on their farm.

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Our Action Plan (2024-2034)

Update a framework of partnering with CIMMYT to provide training in plant breeding, pathology, entomology, biotechnology, statistics, genetic resources and climatology with the CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Courses being offered at the Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico.
Expand training offerings into legumes and other field crops using the existing framework established for wheat, including courses in plant physiology, quality, agronomy, experiment station management, and other requested and/or emerging topics such as GMOs and climate change.
Offer additional training courses in other targeted countries including but not limited to Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region for example Morocco, Ethiopia, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Tunisia.
Partner with CIMMYT Academy to curate, create, facilitate, and coordinate training courses for students and scientists.

How Will We Pursue Our Mission?

Focus on a variety of crops, in regard to key scientific food security disciplines (i.e., plant breeding, biotechnology, agronomy, pest sciences, statistics).
Support strengthening and expanding CIMMYT’s Wheat Improvement Courses in Mexico — widely considered the best field-oriented, hands-on training courses in the world.
Facilitate appropriate science-based training opportunities, for wheat and other crops, at sites throughout the world.
Coordinate and design training opportunities specifically tailored for female scientists.
Developing trainings on critical needs, including transgenic technology and regulation, climate change mitigation, varietal registration and seed multiplication/production, disease and insect pest management and quarantine regulations, conservation agriculture, experiment station management, and data management and application of statistical methods.
Develop online virtual training courses that improve and expand on existing course offerings.
Facilitate international partnerships between research institutions, major universities, and the private sector.
Manage a mentorship program that contributes to more effective educational and career development.