Magic beans: A Wknd interview with sustainable-seeds warrior Swati Nayak

She works to bridge the gap between lab, farm and fork. She just won the Norman E Borlaug Award. ‘I want to show that excellence comes from courage,’ Nayak says

A few years ago, an immigration official in Delhi leafed through Swati Nayak’s passport and asked: What is the reason for your trip?

She was an agriculture scientist attending a global conference, she responded. “He looked up and said: ‘Do women also do this kind of farm work?’” says Nayak, 39.

She is admittedly one of a very few women in her field. “Growing up in Odisha, being a doctor or an engineer was the definition of success, and I