In the 1930s, the USDA collaborated with Colombian agribusiness and experiment stations to breed a temperate variety of sugarcane. This partnership highlights the use of wild sugarcane (Sacchaum spontaneum) as it traveled from the steppes of central Asia, through initial scientific crossings in Dutch Java, and finally to breeding programs in the greater Caribbean. Several scientists involved in these collection and breeding programs donated specimens housed in the NYBG Herbarium. Their work contributed to significant changes in global sugarcane production and remains relevant for its economic, biological, and social impact in sugar landscapes.
Tim Lorek, Yale University
His dissertation research, Developing Paradise: Agricultural Science in Colombia’s Cauca Valley, 1927–1967, examines international networks of agricultural development from the historical perspective of an economically significant subtropical river valley in southwest Colombia.