Agriculture researcher Singh receives national award

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Ravi Singh was awarded for his “distinguished contributions to the field of agricultural research and development, particularly in wheat genetics, pathology and breeding.”

Singh works at the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) as the wheat improvement and rush resistance lead researcher. As an employee at CIMMYT, Singh has led research to control fungal wheat rust diseases, saving farmers almost $3 billion a year as they no longer need to purchase fungicides.

He and his team have developed wheat varieties with enhanced grain yield potential as well as another project where he initiated breeding wheat with enhanced lower levers of grain zinc and iron concentration in India and Pakistan.

Singh has penned 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, 26 book chapters/extension publications, 80 published symposia, and 212 symposia abstracts. He is also a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, American Phytopathological Society and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India.

He has also been awarded the 2015 China Friendship Award, and awards from China’s provincial governments in Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang.