HarvestPlus Director, Howdy Bouis, recently met H.R.H. Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess of Thailand following the opening ceremony of BioAsia 2007, an international conference on technological innovations in agriculture. Bouis was at BioAsia to deliver a keynote lecture on biofortification as a new plant breeding strategy to improve nutrition. Bouis presented a HarvestPlus poster to the princess that featured research being done at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to breed higher levels of zinc into rice, a staple food in Asia. “Zinc is critical for physical growth and development and millions of people in Asia are at risk of low zinc intake,” said Bouis. Following his conversation with H.R.H, Bouis noted that the Princess, who is known for her commitment to improving education, was well aware that good nutrition is critical to children’s cognitive development and growth. “The Princess has visited IRRI and understands how important agriculture is. Once new biofortified varieties of rice are released,” he said,” the potential impact on improving nutrition in Asia is enormous.”