 I got my PhD in 1960, had a couple of babies, and then in 1963 I was involved in a pilot approach to agricultural and rural development. It was done in six villages about the heads of Laguna. And so in the beginning, you know, when you're in your PhD, you think you're better than anybody else and you think you know more than anybody else. So when they were asking me to join them, I said, no, no, no, I'm not interested. And of course they can ask you two or three times after that, they don't ask you anymore. So I said, the world is passing by and I'm not in it. So I decided I want to, I want to be a part of it. So I was in charge of the research and evaluation component of the project. And it was implemented by the Farm and Home Development Project at UPLB. And this had quite a bit of Ford Foundation and Cornell component in it. So rice is something that I was really interested in. I don't know why, perhaps it's because it's something that we eat every day. We can't do without. And it's something that you find in both rich and poor. And you can't ignore it. It's always there, no matter what happens. It's always there. If it's not there, you better find it. So that's my, and more than that, in agriculture, rice can be grown at that time, six months. Now it's, I think now it's about 120 days. So it's about four months or less. So you know, you can easily see the product within that period. But most of all, it is a product of science that has reached the farthest corner of this country. There are not many products of science that have touched the common man, as much as rice and I think vaccines. So this is terribly important to me. In the beginning, I wasn't sure that having an institute like this within the neighborhood of UPLB, which was so poor at that time, the Contas was so great. I remember very well. I think it was a secretary of education who visited the area and said, I cannot see the connection between the manned plant rice and each rice in this fantastic building. Because at that time, this was just a standout compared to UPLB, at that time the housing was terrible at UPLB and all that. And then of course there were a lot of critics and people who said, if they just give us the money, we can do it. That was the thinking and the thinking also was that the Filipino rice scientists were not given as much credit, you know. Well, I was a visiting professor at Cornell when the new rice varieties was released. Before that I gave a seminar in the International Agriculture Development Program and I was saying that farmers will not adapt these new varieties because they were cadillac varieties compared to what farmers were using. And you know, of course, he reared about it and some of them were upset, you know. Why is he saying that? Then I came home and that was 1967. So, you know, that's when I got involved with Rande and all that. So then when I saw how farmers have responded, then that was how I produced, you know, all in a grain of rice, the book. And that book, people asked me why wasn't it published by Erie? I said I did not want Erie to publish it. Because at that time, you know, the miracle rice was very controversial and if I say positive things about it, they would think it's because Erie paid for the book. And I want to maintain the independence of the book. And at that time, when the controversy was raging, you would have journalists, you would have economies, whatever, coming to Erie. But Erie didn't know. After they visited Erie, they would go to me to ask me, find out what I have to say. Am I saying the same thing that Erie scientist said, no? So that was the time when I had written the book. And as I mentioned once, the grant to write that book was $3,000, believe it or not, during that time. And it was given by Ford Foundation. And Ford Foundation said, well, if she's going to write about Erie, Erie varieties, why couldn't Erie pay for it? And I said, no, I don't want Erie to pay for it. And so Matt then he said, we've got to get some contribution from Erie. So that was when Randy said, we'll set aside $3,000 for you to travel to the other international centers. So it will let me for the book, but I never spent that money because then our project needed more money. And I said to Randy, why don't you use that money to cover our father needs? So that's how it came out. So I spent, I think, 18 months writing this, writing this book. And it was not difficult to do because all my graduates did it. And everybody else in campus in Dilwan, they were all writing about the impact of the Green Revolution. So it was easy to put things together. So that was it. And then I think it was, when they needed very much someone who would develop the gender, the women in rice farming systems program, Tina DeBede was the head of socioeconomics and said, Elio, why don't you spend some time with us? Then Swaminathan talked me into it. It's hard to say no when Swaminathan, so I did. I developed the framework and traveled a great deal to these different countries to find out what the prospects are. And I developed the program. And now we are going to proceed. Then during the time of Lampi, I knew Lampi before he came to Erie. So he would invite me to come over to the EPS, some things that are bothering him or what. He would call me and we will talk about it because he knows I will say it straight. I may be wrong, but I'll always be honest. So we could exchange views very, very frankly. And so he said, why don't you really spend time here? Because he found out I was about to retire. And I said, you don't have to pay me to get my input. And then he looked at me and said, are you rich? I said, no, I'm not. Okay, then it's all settled, he said. But I said, I have a commitment. Even before I retired, I already had the commitment to go to Stockholm for about three months or so to evaluate their program of the International Foundation for Science. So I said, I have to wait a year before I could join you. But I said, anytime you can call me. So that started it. So a year after my retirement, I came here.