Note: This was drafted not long after September 11, 2001. It was an opportunity to find good news in a world spinning off into chaos. Henry Beachell died in 2006 at the age of 100. He left behind a rich story and many saved lives.
Amidst the swirling news
of recent events engulfing our nation, a small and quiet town in southeast
Texas silently bore witness to a hallmark event– Dr. Henry M. Beachell turning
95 years old. For three quarters
of a century, the efforts of this soft-spoken and mild-mannered gent have drawn
the attention and gratitude of world leaders, once-starving but now well-fed
masses, colleagues and many, many dear friends. To all he is known simply as “Hank”, but there’s nothing
simple about him or his life which has been filled with unceasing dedication
and achievement.
The party wasn't a
retirement party, because Beachell continues to work three or four days a week,
extending a highly distinguished career that has already spanned more than
three-quarters of a century.
Beachell is one of a very small group of agricultural scientists
responsible for developing dozens of strains of rice plants for the purpose of
substantially increasing yields.
So, in places such as Asia where 90% of the world’s rice is grown, these
high-yield strains have meant food for otherwise starving millions. As well, they’ve brought an industry
revolution to rice farming in Texas and other rice growing states. Though the U.S. accounts for just 2% of
global production– much of the domestic yield is a surplus shipped to other
nations to help feed their populations.
Beachell himself is
modest about his endeavors. But
such efforts have earned many honors for a man truly revered in the world of
rice breeding. Most renowned is
the World Food Prize– the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Agriculture– he
received in 1996 for helping to develop "miracle rice" that alleviated
malnutrition and poverty and launched the "Green Revolution." Add to that honor The Japan Prize,
Japan's most distinguished scientific award, in 1987; the Bronze Tower Service
award from the Republic of Korea in 1978; the John Scott Medal and Premium of
the City of Philadelphia in 1969; and the Lifetime Service Award by Texas
A&M University in 2000 for his accomplishments benefiting the rice industry
in the United States.
Looking back nearly a
century, the path for Dr. Beachell has been a straight one– though leading him
over thousands of miles half a world away. He comes by his agricultural roots quite
naturally. Born in 1906, he was
raised on a wheat and corn farm in Nebraska. “It was pretty lonesome out there,” he says. “I’d sit and watch trains go by, and
said [to myself] that someday, I’m going to be on that train and see part of
the world.” Little did Beachell
know just how much of the world he would one day see.
Seeds of change
In the early 20th
century, plowing cornfields was still a horse-drawn process. Wheat, on the other hand, utilized a
tractor plow and that fact made working the wheat fields far more attractive to
Beachell, becoming his main interest on the family farm. Oddly enough, this would lead him to a
career in rice breeding.
As a boy, Beachell always
new he wanted to go to college. He’d met professionals who would come
onto the farm for one reason or another, and Beachell knew he wanted to be one–
that he wanted to be "someone," do something more than till the soil. His participation in the local 4H club
fed his hunger for higher education.
So, in 1925 Beachell entered the University of Nebraska to study -- what
else– agriculture. “Agriculture
was a natural progression for many of us since we were raised on farms,”
Beachell says. “But I found out
there was more to agriculture than just growing crops"
Beachell would go on to
earn his Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska as well as a
graduate degree from Kansas State University, but not before he took a year off
to help fight the European Corn Bore.
As part of the team battling that blight, Beachell spent 6 months
searching through cornfields to seek out and destroy the bores in an effort to
arrest the spread of the epidemic.
Upon graduating from KSU,
Beachell had planned to join the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a wheat
breeder at Washington State University.
But, the only opening went to Beachell’s best friend and classmate
Orville Vogel. Fortunately, since
this was in 1931 and the height of the Great Depression, there were three USDA
jobs open for rice breeders. Beachell jumped at the opportunity.
Big things always begin with something so small
“That was the greatest
thing that ever happened to me because I stayed with rice my entire life,”
Beachell says. It was that
decision in 1931 that brought Beachell to southeast Texas to the Beaumont Rice
Station, a joint operation of the USDA and Texas A&M.
Plant breeding didn’t
exist in 1931 Texas– at least as it’s known today. “All rice has a common ancestry and, at that time, there
wasn’t much genetic diversity in U.S. rice fields,” says Beachell. For the most part, there were only
three varieties widely grown in the south. Sol Wright, a Louisiana farmer with a keen eye for plant
selection, developed each variety.
According to Dr. Susan
McCouch, rice geneticist at Cornell University, it was Beachell who brought
science to rice improvement. Using
the crossbreeding of genetically diverse plants he brought in from around the
world, Beachell tailored new varieties with the qualities that farmers needed
and that consumers wanted in the rice they ate. “He was a
master at that,” says McCouch.
Beachell’s first improved rice variety came with the release of Texas
Patna in 1942. But there were
obstacles to success.
The first was in rice
breeding itself. The rice plant is self-pollinating. To cross-pollinate meant you had to find two plant
types. The first was a plant that
was pollen-sterile but seed-viable.
The other plant had to be pollen-viable but seed-sterile. The plant with a select set of genetic
qualities pollinated a plant, using a little help from humans, with a different
set of desired genetic qualities.
The resulting seed was a blend of the desired qualities from the parent
varieties. But there was a
hitch. Only the first generation
seed from this cross-pollination resulted in the desired genetic blend. Subsequent generations of seed produced
plants that tended to revert to their progenitors’ individual and separate sets
of qualities. So it was important
that rice-breeding programs be maintained. This presented a different type of problem– financing.
Operating budgets for
experimental stations were thin– and particularly so for the Beaumont
Station. America was just emerging
from the Depression and was now thrust into global war. “We had very little
money and [we] still used mules for power,” recalls Beachell. What’s more, the Beaumont Station only
had 100 acres, which was insufficient to increase seed production.
Recognizing how vital
rice improvement was, it was the rice industry itself– the farmers, the millers
and the traders -- who raised funds strictly dedicated for rice research work
and kept the program moving.
Born in Texas
Born from that initial
cooperative effort was the Texas Rice Improvement Association, which later
bought a 600-acre rice farm, which became the site of Beaumont Center. There, in 1944, Beachell released the
Bluebonnet variety, which became the most widely grown rice in the southern
U.S., and the Bluebelle variety still popular in South America.
In the late 1950’s,
however, came one of Beachell’s most significant accomplishments. Texas rice farmers wanted to grow
what’s known as a ratoon crop. A
ratoon crop is a second crop from the plant stubble left from the rice harvest. Such a crop before the onset of winter
would mean both increased yields and revenues for farmers. What it required was the development of
an early maturing variety.
Beachell developed Belle
Patna, a variety maturing in about 105 days, or just over three and half
months. This revolutionized the
Texas rice industry according to Robert Bauer, rice farmer and president of the
Texas Rice Improvement Association.
Not only did the farmers have an increased initial yield, but also
within a relatively short amount of time they had a second harvest.
Beachell developed nine
improved varieties over the course of 32 years and these eventually accounted
for more than 90 percent of the U.S. long-grain rice production, according to
Texas A&M. However, with
steadily increasing yields came new problems. Rice plants were typically tall and thin with weak stems. Higher yielding plants meant heavier
grain heads, which caused weak stem plants to lodge, or fall over. Since rice is grown in flooded fields,
lodging began to result in grain rotting in the fields before harvest– thus
cutting into production.
Developing a short,
semi-dwarf rice plant with a sturdy stalk that wouldn’t lodge had been a dream
of Beachell’s. He would find part
of his answer by looking to his youth.
Beachell’s old friend, Dr. Orville Vogel, who won the original USDA
wheat breeding post Beachell wanted, had developed the Gaines wheat
variety. This was a dwarf plant
revolutionizing wheat production in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for much the
same reasons a dwarf or semidwarf plant would for rice.
Dwarfing the plants was
possible. It was this search for a
dwarf rice plant that would lead Dr. Beachell to Asia and further achievement.
Averting famine
World War II brought
widespread hunger in Asia– even long after its conclusion. By 1960, it had been widely predicted
and accepted that the population would far outstrip food production in the
region’s developing nations, thus making the 1970’s a time of rampant
famine. With private funding, a
global agricultural research center was formed so scientists from all nations
could work in teams. These teams,
headquartered in the Philippines, would concentrate on helping farmers in Asia
grow more of their most vital crop.
The center began its
research in 1962 under the name International Rice Research Institute. Heading the IRRI was Dr. Peter Jennings
who, at an earlier time, spent several months at the Beaumont Rice Center
learning about rice and its problems.
One was being the need for a dwarfed plant.
Traveling across Asia,
Dr. Jennings found at least two rice plant varieties with dwarfism
qualities. In 1962, Jennings
brought Dr. Beachell and his breeding strategies to the Philippines. Ultimately, those strategies led to the
development of a high-yielding semidwarf plant. By that time Beachell had returned to Texas when he got the
news from Jennings. “That’s when I
knew we had [the answer],” recalls Beachell.
Beachell accepted a
breeding job with the IRRI in 1963 at the request of Dr. Jennings. This wasn’t a decision without some
controversy among Texas rice farmers– they didn’t want to loose such a zealous
champion. Beachell remembers, “I
told my rice farmer friends I thought I could help them more by going to Asia
and bringing back new information than I could by staying at home.”
Once there, Beachell took
over the genetic material and the breeding program. With Beachell leading the program, the IRRI developed a
successful semidwarf rice plant labeled IR8-288-3. Known simply as IR8, its seed was released for use in
November 1966. News of the release
hit before month end and thereafter it was nicknamed “the miracle rice.” IR8 grew plants with short and strong
stems. And because IR8 was not
sensitive to photoperiod, or daylight length, the strain could be grown in many
latitudes and at any time of year.
The grain itself did have
a few drawbacks. It was chalky
compared to the polished grains of typical market rice. IR8 grain also had a high occurrence of
breakage in the milling process.
Once cooked, it also had the unfortunate tendency to harden after
cooling. But Beachell recalls the
consensus view of IRRI, “We needed to move as fast as possible. There wasn’t enough rice to go around
and we had to have something to alleviate the shortage.” Having rice, the IRRI concluded, was
far more important than grain quality.
Certainly IR8 had limitations,
but it was a rugged variety that would change world rice production. For centuries, farmers had been able to
harvest yields of one or, maybe, two tons per hectare– an area equivalent to
just under 2.5 acres. With IR8,
they could now double or triple their harvests. Not long after, Asia began to transform. Farmers had surpluses that helped fuel
economies. Rather than funds
flowing outward to import grains, the money could stay in the domestic
economy. While there’s no claim to
having eliminated poverty or strife, one fact is clear– the predicted famines
of the 70’s were averted. What
could have been starving millions now had a reliable and consistent food
supply. Beachell's role in IR8 led
others to dub him the person most responsible for the "Green
Revolution" in rice.
"Hank Beachell is
the single most important individual in rice improvement in the world,"
said Dr. Ed Runge, professor and head of the soil and crop sciences department
of Texas A&M.
A man of high yield
During his nine years
with IRRI, Beachell had been incredibly productive. The development of IR8 was a firestorm success. But Beachell’s time with IRRI was
up. Foundation rules required
Beachell to retire from IRRI at 65, though his career was far from over. In 1972, Indonesia had the
world’s third largest population and the country was in deep trouble. The average per person consumption was
about 300 pounds of rice per year with annual national imports of 1.7 million
tons. That was little more than
half of what was needed to feed a population well in excess of 100 million.
Though forced to retire
from IRRI, Beachell was able to join one of its outreach projects based in
Bogor, Indonesia. IR8 in hand, he
was able to introduce improved rice strains as well as intensive rice breeding
training programs for the country’s scientists. On the verge of success and a rise in production,
disaster struck. Epidemics of insects and diseases hit, for which IR8 just
happened to have weak resistance.
The crops were decimated by brown planthoppers along with viruses such
as tungro and grassy stunt disease.
“We had serious losses…a disaster,” notes Beachell.
IRRI scientists had
continued Beachell’s work to improve IR8.
A new variety called IR36 had built-in genetic resistance to the afore
mentioned and other pests.
But Indonesia could only acquire a relatively small amount of the IR36
seed– 500 metric tons. This was
considered hardly enough, so a massive seed increase program was
initiated.
Beachell’s goal was to
attain 10,000 tons for every ton of starter seed. It was considered by many to be impossible, but Indonesia
prevailed. Rapid adoption of IR36
put down the epidemics and production was back on the rise. Within ten years, the country’s
production had nearly doubled and gone from annually importing 1.7 million tons
of rice to total rice self-sufficiency. In 1982, his work there done, Beachell left
Indonesia to return to Texas.
In Beachell’s absence
from the Texas rice industry, work had continued on developing a semidwarf
variety for the state’s farmers.
Much of it was based on Beachell’s original work and the successes he
had in Asia. Lemont
was the first to be released in 1983.
Dr. Charlie Bollich, Beachell’s old friend and replacement at the
Beaumont Station pioneered its development. A 30% yield increase and good lodging resistance should have
been enough to get Lemont off to a good start. But a hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico went one better. “The hurricane came right over our
fields,” Bollich recalls. “The
other plants were flattened, but Lemont remained standing. That gave it instant publicity.” Texas had a successful semidwarf rice
plant, fulfilling Beachell’s vision.
Winding down—not so much
For most, a 51-year
career would mean winding down– not for Beachell. On his return to Texas,
at age 75, Beachell began to assist with a research project in southeast Texas–
that project became RiceTec, Inc.
Working for RiceTec, Beachell helped develop XL6, a first of its kind
hybrid rice in the United States and released just last year. The panicles of XL6, the seed bearing
branch clusters, are about double the length of conventional
varieties– and its yield is 20% greater. One year after its release, XL6 is already being grown on
11,000 acres in Arkansas and Missouri.
Beachell continues
working to this day, though a bit less rigorously. His energies and inspiration are drawn from an ability to
improve a grain on which so many depend.
He says he wants to work until at least 100 because, “I have things to
do.” Beachell sees another
possible crisis in Asia, but he believes he can help develop plants to solve
the problem. “Things like
molecular genetics and transgenetics are advances that can explode production
to keep pace with the population,” Beachell observes. These technologies would
enable scientists to pick out recessive traits beneficial to production and
move those benefits from one plant to another.
Beachell continues to
help train the next generation of plant breeders. It’s something he enjoys doing as much as plant breeding. “I
love working with young people,” Beachell says with a glimmering smile, “They
get something from my experiences and I learn new things from them.” The trick, according to Beachell, has
been getting people interested in agriculture research. “It’s a huge challenge– what was a
natural transition for me isn’t so natural for an inner city kid,” he notes.
With endowed scholarships
in his name at Texas A&M and the American Society of Agronomy, his legacy
will continue for decades to come.
"His direct
contributions to rice improvement may even be surpassed in the future by the
impact he has had on coworkers and students," said A&M's Runge. "He has impressed on young rice
breeders that they can also do this through dedication, innovation and
interaction with other scientists in a team approach, even if they possess
simple facilities and limited resources.
"His contributions
permit the world's expanding population to feed itself and have led to longer,
more fulfilling, healthful lives for hundreds of millions of people. They are beyond quantification."
