Food scientist on top of the world

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For 30 years Dr John Baker worked as a food technology scientist at Massey University in Palmerston North. Over the last 16 years he has been designing, manufacturing and promoting his no-tillage seed drill.

Now Dr Baker has been nominated for this year’s prestigious World Food Prize for the second year in a row. This is an award presented at the World Technology Awards in New York to outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world. Dr John Baker, director of Baker No-Tillage Ltd in the Manawatu, reached the final in 2010.

Once again he has been nominated for an award which is considered to be the Nobel Prize for food, which recognises contributions in any field involved in the world food supply. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, in June this year and presented to the winner at the Laureate Award Ceremony in the United States in mid-October. Among the World Food Prize’s advisors are two former presidents of the United States, George H Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Currently Baker No-Tillage exports throughout the world and is a very unusual product – a no-tillage seed drill. It does not plough the soil like a conventional machine but sows seeds directly into the undisturbed soil.

The Baker No-Tillage Drill penetrates the top of the soil to create seed slots. It sows the seed and drops fertiliser in a separate band at the same time. While doing this it covers the slot, traps the humidity, preserves the micro-organisms and soil life and prevents the carbon in the soil from escaping into the atmosphere.

Trials have proved that in many areas, as opposed to traditional methods, the crops grow faster and the yields can increase by up to 50 percent. The technology is also rapidly gaining acceptance, both from farmers and agronomists because crops grow well when moisture is limited. This is because the no-tillage drill doesn’t disturb the soil or lose moisture or humidity.

“What we’re doing is stopping the destruction caused by ploughing, which opens up the soil, loses humidity and releases carbon into the atmosphere – eventually turning arable land into a dust bowl,” Dr Baker says.

Baker drills are used extensively in Australia, Canada and the United States, particularly on prairies where there’s little moisture and farmers need every available resource to help them grow crops. It’s in arable crop production in particular that Baker No-Tillage’s Cross Slot drills are recognised as the best in the world by both the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and the USDA (US Department of Agriculture).

Dr Baker points out that 85 percent of the world’s food comes from seeds, as opposed to 10 percent from meat and fish.

“It’s in growing crops that no-tillage drills can make a difference in the world and be the mechanism to help feed an increasingly hungry population,” he says.

The no-tillage drill did not just suddenly appear. Dr Baker had been exporting and promoting his drill for 16 years and, for 30 years before that, he was an agro-tech scientist at Massey University, studying improved methods of food production. Dr Baker is delighted to be nominated for the World Food Prize.

“I hope our invention will bring credit to New Zealand and advance the benefits of no-tillage to a world that faces the challenge of feeding an ever increasing population,” he says.

Supporters of Dr Baker are currently completing the submission and seeking endorsement from political and business leaders. Last year’s winner was announced by the then secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in the State Department.

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