Norman Uphoff, Professor Emeritus of Government and International Agriculture at Cornell University, served as director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development (CIIFAD) from 1990 to 2005. During this time he became acquainted with SRI in Madagascar, and realized that “something unusual was going on” as farmers obtained average paddy yields of 8 tons/ha instead of their usual 2 tons. Recognising the huge potential benefits, he has been working ever since in favour of tests, evaluations, and of understanding SRI. “People can overestimate my role as easily as they can underestimate it… the truth is that the actual work has been done by thousands of people around the world.”