Derald Langham - Venezuela Plant Research

Venezuela Plant Research

While still in his twenties, Langham was hired by the Venezuelan government in 1939 to be the geneticist at the first agricultural experiment station in Venezuela. Much of his funding came from the Rockefeller Foundation National Science Program, one of many programs founded by Nelson Rockefeller to bolster economic programs in Latin American countries. Langham served as a consultant to Rockefeller shortly after his Venezuela government service.

Emerson's successor at Cornell, Herbert Whetzel, had directed a mission for the Venezuela Ministry of Agriculture in 1938. He recommended Langham to the Venezuelan government for a position at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Caracas. Langham also taught Genetics at the new College of Agriculture, which was set up the previous year.

He later became the leader of the Venezuela National Plant Genetics Program. His growing techniques helped to feed the population through new strains of crops during World War II, after German U-Boats had disrupted the flow of food supplies to the country by harassing Caribbean shipping lanes.

He soon discovered a variety of cross-breeding techniques to increase the yield and sustainability of corn and sesame. One plant he developed increased the yield of corn in Venezuela by 400 percent, necessitating the building of a corn seedbank to save local strains of the plant in Central and South America.

His crash program in self-sufficiency during World War II led the Venezuelan government to place him in charge of the country's entire agricultural sector. Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera Rodriguez later awarded him the Order of Merit of Performance in 1972, the highest honor ever given to a foreigner at the time. During his award ceremony he was honored as the "father of modern agriculture in Venezuela." He also trained future Ministers of Agriculture and most of the leaders in agriculture from the 1940s to 1960s.