An Example of Innovation: The Grain Miracle

Because International (the name of the parent organization for this blog) is focused on providing innovations for people living in extreme poverty. So much of the developed world has constant innovations to do things faster, better, and more effectively. Yet the majority of those living in extreme poverty in the developing world are still receiving aid and help in very rudimentary ways. We need to focus on innovating unique and practical solutions and updates for the way that we try to help those in need around the world.


One man who found a unique and practical innovation that has changed the lives of countless millions of sustenance farmers in developing nations is Dr. Norman Borlaug. You might not have heard of him before, but he won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the "Grain Miracle".

Basically, the African and Indian and many other farmers in developing countries were having trouble growing a more full and hearty grain. The ability was there for the meat of the grain to be bigger, but that led to a problem. When the grain kernels were large (which would be great because that would lead to a bigger crop), the stalk would become too weak to support it. The entire thing would break off and fall dead to the ground. So farmers were stuck with the normal amount of grain year after year - or even smaller amounts in a drought year.

But then Dr. Borlaug discovered a way to make the stalk fatter and wider. He had created a series of remarkably successful high-yield, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat. This wheat was shorter and wider and stuck closer to the ground. This allowed it to not fall over with a larger amount of kernels. It was a revolution for many sustenance farmer around the world.


These are the innovations that we need. These are the solutions that we seek. This is the mindse that we need to implement again. With all of the technology in the world, with all of the communication, with all of the ability that we have - we need to use it to do good. We need to use it for them. We need to innovation for them.

How to Innovate for Them

So how can we innovate for them?

What is the plan? How do we do that?

In my estimation, there are four distinct parts.

1) Identify the Problem.
What is the specific problem that we are talking about? In order to begin to innovate, we need to define a specific problem that we want to help. Malaria, AIDS, clean water - whatever it is it must be specified and defined. We cannot fix everything with one innovation. We must identify which problem we want to work with and then go from there.

2) Identify Current Operations.
What are we currently doing to fight against this problem? What current steps are we taking to solve this? What is happening right now? In order to innovate and improve upon something, we need to identify the things that are currently going on to fight against the specific problem.

3) Identify the Lack.
How can these current operations be better? Where do they lack? Where are they not meeting the mark? Obviously, since our problems are not going away and people are still struggling, we can do things better. This is a very important step to identify where the current operations are lacking.

4) Innovate Solutions.
Once it is identified where the current operations are lacking, then that is the place where we need to make innovative solutions. We have to use our resources, our experiences, our minds, and inspiration from the Lord to develop innovations in these situations.


This is the pattern. Now we just have to do it.

Here we go.

A Good Example of the Concept

Recently, I was watching an episode from the final season of The West Wing. (p.s. This is such a good show - probably pretty underrated as far as good television shows in the last 25 years. But I digress...). There was a situation in the episode that corresponded really well to what Because is all about.

In the episode, there is a very high-ranking official named CJ Kregg. The administration was nearing an end, and CJ was going to need to find a new job pretty soon. She had a plethera of offers, but one offer was almost impossible to turn down (even though she did ultimately turn it down). A multi-billionare came to her with a job offer. He was a man who had already made his fortune, and now he wanted to leave a legacy by doing something good for the world. He presented CJ with this offer. He would give her 10 billion dollars to solve a social justice problem in the world. No strings attached. Here are the resources. Get out there and get it done.

This is the exact concept of Because...

Wouldn't it be a joy if someone would do this? Wouldn't it be such a blessing if this could happen? America, North America, and the developing countries have so much money and wealth - that this type of situation is possible. There are dozens of billionaires in the world. There are thousands of multi-millionaires in the world. There are people who have great resources and good hearts.

There are also people who are extremely smart. There are people who understand the world, understand what the world needs, and understand how to fix these problems. The problems in the world are large, but they are not invincible. There are answers to these questions, and there are solutions to these problems. We have the ability to solve these problems, and we have the people that can do it.

We can do things like this. We can do this.

What if we did something like this? There are smart people in the world. There are rich people in the world. And there is great need in the world. Because is focused on this type of concept. We want to end these problems by providing the appropriate resources that they need in order to eliminate them.

Hopefully one day Because can institute this situation - and we can end some of these problems.