Virtual - Seed Stories: The World in a Wheat Field (in English)

Monday, December 7, 2026 6:00—7:00 PM Online - Zoom **PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE PLACE VIA ZOOM. Registrants will receive a link to access the Zoom Webinar via email.**   Join Harvard professor, historian, and award-winning author Gabriela Soto Laveaga to learn about her new book, The World in a Wheat Field: Mexico, Science, and the Challenge of Ending Global Hunger.  In the mid-twentieth century, researchers at an experiment station in Sonora's Yaqui Valley designed high-yielding wheat seeds with the promise that increasing crop productivity would end world hunger. These seeds transformed global farming in what came to be known as the Green Revolution. However, in her book, Soto Laveaga challenges a history traditionally told from the perspective of American scientists. Instead, she centers native lands, Sonoran farmers, Mexican innovation, and Mexico-India connections. Her research explores the labor and Indigenous knowledge behind global agricultural shifts, why twentieth-century initiates have failed to eradicate hunger, and the environmental impacts of the Green Revolution. Register directly on Zoom HERE RECORDING NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 48 hours of the program. Gabriela Soto Laveaga is Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University. An award-winning author and scholar, her research focuses on re-narrating stories we thought we knew, such as the origins of the Pill or more recently global solutions to hunger. Please register for this event and you'll receive the link in the confirmation and reminder emails - make sure to check your spam folder for them, the email will be coming from Zoom. This program is hosted by the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, MA and is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library. Sign up for our Ashland Public Library Newsletters! Return to main calendar