Cary Fowler

Last updated

Cary Fowler
Cary Fowler - Pop!Tech 2007.jpg
Fowler in 2007
Born
Morgan Carrington Fowler, Jr. [1]

1949 (age 74–75) [2]
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma mater Rhodes College, Simon Fraser University, Uppsala University
Known for Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Crop Trust
Spouse
​
(m. 2012)​
[1]
Awards Right Livelihood Award, Heinz Award, Vavilov Medal, World Food Prize
Website www.caryfowler.com

Morgan Carrington "Cary" Fowler Jr. (born 1949) is an American agriculturalist and the former executive director of the Crop Trust, currently serving as U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security. [3] He is the 2024 World Food Prize laureate. [4]

Contents

Background

Fowler was born in 1949 to Morgan, a General Sessions judge, and Betty, a dietician. [2] He graduated from White Station High School in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1967, and attended Rhodes College in Memphis, but transferred in his junior year to Simon Fraser University in Canada, earning his B.A. Honors degree in 1971. [5] [2] He received a Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Uppsala University in Sweden. [2]

Fowler was active in civil rights demonstrations in Memphis. He was present at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. made his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop". During the Vietnam War, he obtained conscientious objector status and worked at a hospital in North Carolina. [6]

Career

In the 1970s-80s Fowler was Program Director for the National Sharecroppers Fund/Rural Advancement Fund. [7] Following this, he served as Professor and Director of Research in the Department for International Environment & Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway. He also led the International Conference and Programme on Plant Genetic Resources at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN) in the 1990s. There, he produced the UN's first global assessment of the state of the world's crop diversity and was the chief author of the Food and Agriculture Organization's Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources. He subsequently supervised the negotiations that led to its adoption by 150 countries in 1996.

From 1996 to 2001, Fowler represented the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in negotiations for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources.

In 2010, he played a lead role in saving one of the world's largest living collections of fruit and berry varieties at the Pavlovsk Experimental Station in Russia. In order to save the Station, he led an international campaign of scientists and citizens who voiced their concerns about the threatened conversion of this station to a housing development. [7]

In 2013, Fowler was elected to Membership in the Russian Academy of Sciences, which carries the title of Academician. [8] He is one of two foreign members of the Academy.

Fowler has also previously served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit, as a board member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, as the chair of the board of The Livestock Conservancy, as a member of the Seed Savers Exchange board, and as a member of the National Plant Genetic Resources Board of the U.S. [7] Fowler is also a member of the New York Botanical Garden Corporation. [9]

On June 1, 2015, United States President Barack Obama appointed Fowler as a Member of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. [10]

In April 2017, Fowler was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of Rhodes College. [11]

After being appointed U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security by President Joe Biden, Fowler joined the U.S. Department of State on May 5, 2022. In May 2023, he was one of 500 US citizens sanctioned by Russia. [12]

Global Crop Diversity Trust

Cary Fowler in front of the Seed Vault being built on Spitsbergen, showing the kind of containers used for the seeds. Cary Fowler 2007.jpg
Cary Fowler in front of the Seed Vault being built on Spitsbergen, showing the kind of containers used for the seeds.

Fowler served as the Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust from 2005 to 2012. [7] [13] The trust's mandate is to ensure "the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide." Fowler is known as the father of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which currently houses samples of more than one million distinct crop varieties. [14] [15] Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the vault as an “inspirational symbol of peace and food security for the entire humanity.” [15]

Working with partner genebanks in 71 countries during Fowler's tenure as executive director, the Trust helped rescue 83,393 unique crop varieties from extinction. [16] [13] [17]

It sponsored more than 40 projects to screen crop collections for important traits such as heat and drought tolerance. In partnership with the USDA, a state-of-the-art genebank management system ("GRIN-Global") was developed and made available to 38 genebanks internationally, and the first ever global portal to accession (sample) level information (Genesys) [18] was launched. The Trust's endowment grew more than $100 million to $134 million, and total funds raised surpassed $200 million. [19] [20]

By the end of Fowler's tenure, the Trust concluded three major agreements intended to protect and conserve crop diversity: with the Millennium Seed Bank of Kew Gardens, [21] the indigenous communities in the Andes, [22] and the international genebanks of the Consultive Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [23]

He stepped down as Executive Director of the Crop Trust in late 2012. [7] [13]

Awards and honors

Fowler has received several honorary degrees, including an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Simon Fraser University, [24] an Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Rhodes College, [25] an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree from Oberlin College, [26] and an Honorary Doctorate from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. [27] He received the Right Livelihood Award with Pat Mooney in 1985 for his work in agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity. Fowler has also received the Vavilov Medal from the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. [16] In 2010, he was one of ten recipients of the 16th Annual Heinz Awards with a special focus on global change. [28] In 2012, he was awarded the "Wind Beneath my Wings" award jointly with his wife Amy P. Goldman at Bette Midler's annual "Hulaween" party. He was the baccalaureate speaker at the 2013 Rhodes College commencement ceremonies and received the 2015 William L. Brown Award for Excellence in Genetic Resource Conservation from the Missouri Botanical Garden. [29]

In 2016 Fowler received the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources, given by the Crop Science Society of America. [30] He and his wife Amy Goldman Fowler jointly received the "Visionary" Award from the American Visionary Art Museum. [31]

Fowler's book Seeds on Ice: Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault was awarded the 2016 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for best book in the Ecology/Environment category. [32]

Fowler received the 2018 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Citizen Leadership, awarded jointly by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and gave the keynote address at Monticello on the occasion of Jefferson's 275th birthday. [33]

At a May 9, 2024 ceremony at the U.S. Department of State, the World Food Prize Foundation announced that Fowler had been selected as a 2024 World Food Prize Laureate, alongside Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin, for their work on seed genetics and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. [34]

Media

Fowler has made many media appearances, including the CBS news show 60 Minutes . [35] He has been profiled in The New Yorker magazine, presented at the Pop!Tech conference and spoken at the TED Global Conference in Oxford. [36] [37]

Fowler was the focus of the award-winning 2013 documentary Seeds of Time. [38] The film centers on Fowler's work to protect the world's food supply with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the challenges facing seed protection and genetic diversity efforts as a result of climate change. [39] He was also featured in the 2013 documentary Seed Battles. [40] [41]

Personal life

In 2012, Fowler married author, gardener, and seed saving advocate Amy Goldman. He has two children and is a melanoma and testicular cancer survivor. [1] [6]

Bibliography

In addition to authoring more than 100 articles in various agriculture, law development and biology journals, Fowler has authored and coauthored several books.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seed bank</span> Backup seed storage

A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality, taste, etc. of crops. Another is to forestall loss of genetic diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to conserve biodiversity ex situ. Many plants that were used centuries ago by humans are used less frequently now; seed banks offer a way to preserve that historical and cultural value. Collections of seeds stored at constant low temperature and low moisture are guarded against loss of genetic resources that are otherwise maintained in situ or in field collections. These alternative "living" collections can be damaged by natural disasters, outbreaks of disease, or war. Seed banks are considered seed libraries, containing valuable information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress, and can be used to create genetically modified versions of existing seeds. The work of seed banks often span decades and even centuries. Most seed banks are publicly funded and seeds are usually available for research that benefits the public.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims at guaranteeing food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as the recognition of farmers' rights. It was signed in 2001 in Madrid, and entered into force on 29 June 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center</span> International plant breeding organization

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center is a non-profit research-for-development organization that develops improved varieties of wheat and maize with the aim of contributing to food security, and innovates agricultural practices to help boost production, prevent crop disease and improve smallholder farmers' livelihoods. CIMMYT is one of the 15 CGIAR centers. CIMMYT is known for hosting the world's largest maize and wheat genebank at its headquarters in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Rice Research Institute</span> Agricultural research and training organization

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its work in developing rice varieties that contributed to the Green Revolution in the 1960s which preempted the famine in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural biodiversity</span> Agricultural concept

Agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity is a subset of general biodiversity pertaining to agriculture. It can be defined as "the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels that sustain the ecosystem structures, functions and processes in and around production systems, and that provide food and non-food agricultural products.” It is managed by farmers, pastoralists, fishers and forest dwellers, agrobiodiversity provides stability, adaptability and resilience and constitutes a key element of the livelihood strategies of rural communities throughout the world. Agrobiodiversity is central to sustainable food systems and sustainable diets. The use of agricultural biodiversity can contribute to food security, nutrition security, and livelihood security, and it is critical for climate adaptation and climate mitigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heirloom plant</span> Historic food crop cultivar

An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit, or heirloom vegetable is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particularly in isolated communities of the Western world. These were commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but are not used in modern large-scale agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svalbard Global Seed Vault</span> Globally accessible seed bank on Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from around the world, conserved in gene banks. This provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters. The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene bank</span> Facility that preserves genetic material

A gene bank is a type of biorepository that is designed around the preservation of genetic information. Gene banks are often used for storing the genetic material of species that are endangered or close to extinction. They are also used for the preservation of major crop species and cultivars, in order to preserve crop diversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crop Trust</span> Germany-based nonprofit organization

The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is an international nonprofit organization with a secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Its mission is to conserve and make available the world's crop diversity for food security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bent Skovmand</span> Danish plant scientist (1945–2007)

Sir Bent Skovmand was a Danish plant scientist and conservationist. Time magazine wrote in 1991 that Skovmand, "'while not exactly a household name,' had had 'more to do with the welfare of the world's five billion people than many heads of state.'"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioversity International</span>

Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food- and nutrition security, working with partners in low-income countries in different regions where agricultural biodiversity can contribute to improved nutrition, resilience, productivity and climate change adaptation. In 2019, Bioversity International joined with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture to "deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives". Both institutions are members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

Crop diversity or crop biodiversity is the variety and variability of crops, plants used in agriculture, including their genetic and phenotypic characteristics. It is a subset of a specific element of agricultural biodiversity. Over the past 50 years, there has been a major decline in two components of crop diversity; genetic diversity within each crop and the number of species commonly grown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Svalbard</span>

The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, mining gave a revenue of 2.008 billion kr, tourism NOK 317 million and research 142 million. In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700, or 23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only a few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution. The Spitsbergen Treaty and Svalbard Act established Svalbard as an economic free zone and demilitarized zone in 1925.

The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg), previously known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), is an international, nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development. It was founded in 1971 in Shanhua, southern Taiwan, by the Asian Development Bank, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States and South Vietnam.

The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a network of institutions and agencies led by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the effort to conserve and facilitate the use of the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants and their wild relatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Svalbard</span> Svalbards agriculture

Agriculture in Svalbard – the archipelago containing the world's northernmost permanently inhabited settlements – has a short history, and remains a minor economic factor, but has nonetheless had a culturally and socially significant role, as well as an ecologic impact. Svalbard is home to the Global Seed Vault, which serves to protect the world's biological and agricultural diversity. Polar Permaculture Solutions, AS was formed in January 2015. Polar Permaculture has been focused on producing locally grown food in town, and also with composting food waste.

John Trevor Williams was a British plant geneticist who was instrumental in the creation of plant gene banks.

The Nordic Genetic Resource Center is a plant, farm animal and forest conservation, gene resource guardian, and sustainable use organization under and primarily financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, and is headquartered in Alnarp, near Malmö, in southern Sweden. NordGen's primary mission is "securing the broad diversity of genetic resources linked to food and agriculture" through "conservation and sustainable use, solid documentation and information work and international agreements".

<i>Seeds of Time</i> (film) Documentary film

Seeds of Time is a 2013 feature length documentary film directed and produced by Sandy McLeod. The film had its North American premiere in South by Southwest Film Festival’s Documentary Spotlight, and its international premiere at CPH:DOX film festival in Copenhagen. Seeds of Time was also screened at Berlin International Film Festival, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Mountainfilm in Telluride, Seattle International Film Festival Full Frame Documentary Festival, and the Food Film Festival in Amsterdam. The film won the Audience Award at the San Francisco Green Film Festival, Best Film at the Portland Eco Film Festival, and Best Cinematography at the Costa Rica International Film Festival. It was selected to be viewed in Peru and Mongolia as part of a collaboration with UCLA and the State Department with American Film Showcase in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Hawtin</span> 2024 World Food Prize Laureate

Geoffrey Hawtin OBE is an agricultural scientist and World Food Prize laureate who has served in public institutions working in agricultural biodiversity, plant genetic resources, crop breeding and research management. He was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II and has been recognized for his career "dedicated to using agriculture as a weapon in the war against poverty in developing countries." He played key roles in the creation of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the negotiation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. He has headed two CGIAR Research Centers and currently is on the Executive Board of the Crop Trust.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hartocollis, Anemona (May 11, 2012). "Amy Goldman and Cary Fowler". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Akers, Greg (September 22, 2011). "The Man Who Saved The World". Memphis Flyer . Archived from the original on September 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Welcoming Dr. Cary Fowler as Special Envoy for Global Food Security".
  4. ↑ globalreach.com, Global Reach Internet Productions, LLC-Ames, IA-. "2024 Laureates - The World Food Prize - Improving the Quality, Quantity and Availability of Food in the World". www.worldfoodprize.org. Retrieved August 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Sullivan, Bartholomew (September 21, 2010). "Memphian who envisioned 'doomsday' seed vault to receive Heinz Award". The Commercial Appeal . Archived from the original on October 12, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Seabrook, John (August 27, 2007). "Sowing for Apocalypse". The New Yorker . Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Advisors". Global Crop Diversity Trust. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Prof. Cary Fowler is awarded the diploma of a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences" (Press release). N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry. May 28, 2013.
  9. ↑ Stites, Lisa (July 29, 2013). "Seed Saving on a Global Scale: Cary Fowler to keynote seventh annual Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello" (Press release). Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013.
  10. ↑ "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov (Press release). June 1, 2015 – via National Archives.
  11. ↑ Dries, Bill (April 12, 2017). "Fowler Named Chairman Of Rhodes' Board of Trustees". The Daily News . Daily Digest. Vol. 132, no. 73. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Foreign Ministry statement on new personal sanctions on US citizens". mid.ru. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 "Crop diversity expert Dr. Cary Fowler appointed Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust". SeedQuest.com. April 2005. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Svalbard Global Seed Vault". seedvault.nordgen.org. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  15. 1 2 "Cary Fowler". United States Department of State. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Sells, Toby (October 17, 2010). "Banking on tomorrow: Former Memphian Cary Fowler takes the lead on protecting crop diversity and the world's food supply". The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010.
  17. ↑ Geis, Michelle (October 18, 2013). "Global Crop Diversity Trust Announces New Executive Director". CropTrust.org. Global Crop Diversity Trust. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Genesys".
  19. ↑ "Annual report 2010" (PDF). Global Crop Diversity Trust. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 14, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Annual report 2011" (PDF). Global Crop Diversity Trust. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 10, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Kew's Millennium Seed Bank joins campaign to protect global food supplies". Kew Royal Botanical Gardens. December 10, 2010. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Sacred Valley of the Incas to Send Some 1,500 Potato Varieties to Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Arctic Circle". Asociación Para la Naturaleza y el Desarrollo Sostenible. February 15, 2011. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013.
  23. ↑ Haskins, Jeff; Dold, Megan (January 23, 2008). "Thousands of Crop Varieties from Four Corners of the World Depart for Arctic Seed Vault". Consultive Group on International Agricultural Research.
  24. ↑ "SFU 2008 Honorary Degree Recipients". SFU.ca. Simon Fraser University. 2008. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  25. ↑ "About Cary Fowler". Rhodes College. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Cary Fowler". Oberlin College and Conservatory. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Oversikt over æresdoktorer ved NMBU | NMBU". www.nmbu.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  28. ↑ "The Heinz Awards: Cary Fowler". The Heinz Awards. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  29. ↑ "William L. Brown Center Awards". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Awards & Fellows" (PDF). Crop Science Society of America. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  31. ↑ "AVAM's 21st Gala". American Visionary Art Museum. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Nautilus Award Winners - 2016-17 Season" (PDF). Nautilus Book Awards. 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Cary Fowler, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalist in Citizen Leadership". Monticello. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  34. ↑ "Men behind the doomsday seed vault in the Arctic win World Food Prize". Associated Press News . May 9, 2024.
  35. ↑ "A Visit to the Doomsday Vault". CBS News/60 Minutes. February 24, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  36. ↑ Seabrook, John (August 27, 2007). "Sowing for Apocalypse: The quest for a global seed bank". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on April 3, 2013.
  37. ↑ "Cary Fowler's seeds". Pop!Tech. 2007. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  38. ↑ "Seeds of Time" . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  39. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (May 21, 2015). "In 'The Seeds Of Time,' One Man's Quest To Save Our Food Supply". National Public Radio. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  40. ↑ Resources, Centre for Genetic; Contact, The Netherlands (July 3, 2014). "VPRO Backlight: seed battles". WUR. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  41. ↑ vpro documentary (May 21, 2017). Seeds battles - The Doomsday vault - VPRO documentary - 2013 . Retrieved August 2, 2024– via YouTube.
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