Bram Govaerts
2014 Borlaug Field Award Recipient and Director General, CIMMYT
Dr. Bram Govaerts is Director General at CIMMYT - the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
He is an expert in the fields of bioscience engineering and soil sciences. He is renowned for pioneering, implementing, and inspiring transformational changes for farmers and consumers in meeting the sustainable development challenges. He brings together multi-disciplinary science and development teams to integrate sustainable, multi-stakeholder and sector strategies that generate innovation and change in the agri-food systems. His initiatives, excellence in science for impact and the partnerships he inspired
have resulted in improved nutrition, nature conservation, and national and international
resilience and food security.
One of his notable projects, Masagro, developed in collaboration with farmers, scientists, trainers, extension agents, and communication and technology specialists, has positively impacted the lives of 2.5 million people in Mexico. Inspired by Norman Borlaug's ethos of "Take it to the farmer," Masagro integrates the right seed with conservation agriculture practices within an integrated market framework, while also valuing and integrating farmer knowledge. This transformative project is now being scaled out in multiple African countries, further extending its reach and impact.
He has (co-)authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and won the Norman Borlaug Field Award 2014 from the World Food Prize Foundation. In 2020, Govaerts was elected as Fellow by The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) for his outstanding contributions to the field of agronomy.