The referent, who embraced the cause of Direct Seeding and biotechnology, passed away this Saturday.
The physical disappearance of Dr Otto Solbrig allows us to reflect on several very important events in the development of modern agriculture in Argentina. It is that Otto was the inspiration for many of the collective actions that determined and shaped the Argentine agricultural model, so recognized globally.
Otto was linked in the 90s with Victor Trucco, founder and President of AAPRESID, and from that interaction arose the Biotechnology Seminars, which were part of the AAPRESID congresses for several years.
Otto facilitated the link between AAPRESID and Harvard University, where he was Professor Emeritus, like other global leaders of that time: Juan Enriquez, Francesco Di Castri, Paalberg and several others. These challenging interactions allowed AAPRESID to evolve in its purpose and strategy, from no-till to broad and systemic Innovation of productive ecosystems.
Otto was an ecologist, with highly developed critical thinking. Although he was very kind in his treatment and manners, he was tough and deep in his judgments. Since he was young he settled in the USA, in a kind of exile forced by the political situation, but he always had Argentina and Latin America in his thoughts and interests.
As a specialist in the biology of plant populations, particularly in the interface between ecology, evolution and economics and its relationship with the use of natural resources and agriculture,
Otto embraced the cause of No Tillage and biotechnology. They were for him the sign that another type of agriculture was possible and that there was a future with hope: it was possible to produce intensively without degrading natural resources.
The certification of best practices was promoted, which led to Certified Agriculture (CA) promoted by AAPRESID: “It occurs to me that we could organize ourselves into an SME to monitor and certify Conservationist agriculture productions. And you have to do it very seriously to establish a pattern and prevent the usual ‘blackmailers’ from sneaking in saying that they do conservation agriculture and diluting the brand. It would be necessary to obtain a partner in Argentina, but I think it is important that there be certification from abroad since unfortunately we do not have much credibility at this moment”.
He was important in the founding of Bioceres, being part of the founding group and constant support to disseminate the company’s activities.
“In Rosario we talked about the possibility of investing in Bioceres. I had the impression that Bioceres was a closed company, that is, that the initial shareholders did not want to dilute the value of their shares by admitting new shareholders. But Víctor informed me and Gustavo confirmed that this was not the case and that a share could be bought.- Here there is a saying ‘put your money where your mouth is’ and since I have been saying for years that you have to do what Bioceres does, it is time to achieve. It would be a great honor to be able to accompany them”.
Otto had a critical look at politicians and a large part of his scientific colleagues: “People think they know what they have to do and change, without economic stimulus or legal regulation, it is very, very difficult. But to change the world -or the country- you have to change the people. You know it better than me”
“No-till was not imposed because you convinced the producers that it was good for the environment. Undoubtedly, the fact that it was ecologically good was an important argument, but it prevailed because it was profitable, it saved time, it saved time in double cultivation. And yet, it’s still only a minority that actually no-tills—the majority no-tills soybeans but not corn and doesn’t rotate, etc. – despite the preaching and the fact that it is beneficial for the pocket to do so.
Otto actively accompanied the conceptual and technological evolution of the new agriculture. Some quotes describe it better: “You. They are not satisfied with changing AAPRESID or agriculture, they want to change the country. And I congratulate you for that. But it is not enough to express ideas and models. We must move on to a more concrete phase. I don’t believe that changes happen just because there is a better idea. Even in science, which is the branch of knowledge where we place more importance on new models and theories, even when one has rigorous observations and conclusive experiments, it is difficult to impose them”.
He used to be very ruthless in criticizing politicians and the political corporation, his comments between 2005 and 2008 are currently valid: “They are not interested in learning how things are, they are only interested in power. They think they know how things are. It is hinted that agricultural producers are to blame when asking “why is there hunger in an agricultural country?” .
“If sources of wealth creation begin to be created, the message will spread, and above all, we would begin to solve the country’s problems. As I said before, I would be very careful with current politicians because they are the past and they should have more interest in partnering with you than the other way around. Politicians today have not yet perceived the real change in the field and I don’t think they have the capacity to do so because they are too involved with obsolete ideas from earlier times. And one of these days they are going to disappear as the liberal-conservatives disappeared when their economic power ran out and they ran out of ideas because they did not know how to catch up.In my talk I showed you how scientific paradigms change only after a period of contradictions emanating from the previous paradigm and that this it is generally the result of scientific “revolutions.” The same is going to happen here: either democratically or as a result of some convulsion: one of these days the political corporation is going to disappear You also have to realize that globalization is part of science and that there is no longer European science or Argentine science. There is only science and in biotechnology with patents you will see that each step will include patents from researchers from all over the world. The important thing is to contribute back to that.
Creating a more equitable society is a laudable goal not only because it would help create more wealth and social peace, but also for ethical reasons. But this cannot be achieved by being similar to the United States or Europe in the appropriation by the State of a greater percentage of the surpluses that are created. If the Argentine state appropriates 40% of the GDP, it does not make the country more equitable, it makes it less competitive. A distributive policy has to be tied to an increase in productivity and, in my opinion, the best distribution is for the state to create a good school system and a good health system and infrastructure so that everyone has the same opportunities. We worry about the maldistribution of income. We should worry about the lack of ideas and the lack of respect for other people’s ideas”.
With emotion and admiration, my deepest tribute to a great man in the broadest and deepest sense of the word.
