Improving harvests, improving lives:
Pepper breeder Derek Barchenger’s acceptance speech in full
– 12 November 2025 –
Photo by World Food Prize Foundation
Derek Barchenger, Senior Scientist and head of the Global Pepper Breeding Program at WorldVeg, is the winner of this year’s Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. This prestigious accolade – endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and presented by the World Food Prize Foundation – recognises researchers under the age of 40 who have demonstrated intellectual courage, stamina, and determination in the fight to eliminate global hunger and poverty. Here we share Derek’s acceptance speech in full, as delivered at a special award ceremony during the 2025 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, recently. Take it away, Derek!
Photo by World Food Prize Foundation
Distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends,
I am deeply humbled and profoundly honored to accept the 2025 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation.
To the selection committee and the World Food Prize Foundation, thank you for your trust, your support, and for making this journey not just meaningful, but a chapter I will treasure forever.
My path to this moment began with the encouragement of my grandfather, Benny Ward, the first person who introduced me to the wonders of plant breeding.
He lit the spark of science in me that became a lifelong passion.
I fondly remember following him in the garden in the foothills of the Kiamichi mountains, selecting parents, making crosses and anxiously anticipating the outcomes of our work. That was my first lesson in plant breeding and in patience.
I also owe so much to my mentors:
- Dr. Paul Bosland, who introduced me to the extraordinary world of chili, not just as a crop, but also for its immense importance to smallholder farmers and communities around the world.
- And Dr. John Clark, who gave me my first opportunities in graduate school and showed me what it looks like when science walks hand in hand with the private sector to drive real-world change.
To receive an award bearing the name of Dr. Norman Borlaug is more than an honor, I consider it a responsibility.
A reminder that our work must be measured not by accolades, but by the impact in farmers’ fields.
For me, that work has centered on one extraordinary crop: the chili pepper.
It’s extraordinary because across Asia, Africa, and beyond, chili is so much more than spice. It is nutrition, income, and a pathway to opportunity. Millions of smallholder farmers, especially women, depend on it to support their families.
Yet chili farmers also face extraordinary threats: pests, diseases, rising temperatures, drought, and volatile markets. Too often, the risk outweighs the reward, and many turn away from chili to crops that bring less uncertainty, less risk but also less returns and therefore less hope.
Photos by World Food Prize Foundation
These are not abstract problems. They are the daily realities of millions of farmers worldwide. And they are the reasons why I get out of bed each morning.
At the World Vegetable Center, our mission is to face these challenges head-on. Together with colleagues, students, and partners worldwide, we are developing climate-resilient, high-yielding chili varieties that withstand pests, diseases, and environmental stress. But we go further—ensuring they are demand-driven, nutritious, and farmer-focused.
Breeding a better chili is not just about improving harvests. It’s about improving lives. And that means listening to and learning from our farmers.
Of course, this work is never done alone. I am grateful to the students who push boundaries, to colleagues whose expertise fuels every trial, and to partners who help turn research into impact.
At the heart of it all are the farmers. I dedicate this award to them.
Their courage and perseverance remind us that our mission is not just to deliver seeds of climate resilient high performing varieties, but to deliver hope and opportunity.
I’ve seen with my own eyes that a resilient chili variety can be transformational.
- It can mean sending a child to school.
- It can mean paying for healthcare.
- It can mean building a home or starting a livelihood.
In Karnataka, India, one farmer grew a hybrid chili variety developed with a WorldVeg parent line. On four acres, he increased his yield by nearly 50% and as a result of the higher productivity and increased market acceptance, saw a return on investment of more than 250%. With those earnings, he built a new home for his family. That is not just a story of science; it is a story of dignity.
And this story is not unique. An F1 hybrid developed by East-West Seed using WorldVeg breeding lines was planted across 7,500 hectares in South Asia last year. That one variety alone generated an estimated $3 million in farmer revenue in 2024.
For me, these numbers are not just statistics. They represent prosperity when families can invest in their children’s futures, dignity when farmers stand tall in their communities, security when households have enough to eat and stability to plan for the future, and hope when the next generation sees farming not as a struggle, but as an opportunity.
That is what our work means to me. Every variety developed, every seed shared, is a step toward turning science into livelihoods, and livelihoods into lasting change.
This award is not the end of the road. It is a reminder to press forward. The challenges ahead remain steep, but I believe, as Dr. Borlaug believed, with science grounded in compassion, guided by collaboration, and focused relentlessly on farmers, we can overcome them.
I accept this award on behalf of every farmer who plants a seed with hope; every student who dares to dream differently; and every colleague who walks beside me under the hot sun, believing—as I do—that chili peppers and other vegetables can be more than crops.
They are tools of resilience.
They are engines of nutrition.
They are pathways to prosperity—for families, for communities, and for generations to come.
Dr. Borlaug taught us that from one seed can come a revolution of hope. And when we nurture that seed with science and compassion, it will grow into the change the world so urgently needs.
Find out more about Derek’s work here:
https://avrdc.org/stacked-for-success-multi-trait-chilies-spice-up-breeding/
Read Derek’s interview with WorldVeg partner the American Society for Horticultural Science
Stay tuned for a lot more from the WorldVeg pepper program in the coming weeks, after a record year of pepper breeding.
