He was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II and has been recognized for his career "dedicated to using agriculture as a weapon in the war against poverty in developing countries.

He initiated work on winter sown chickpeas for the Mediterranean region, which led to increased cold tolerance and Ascochyta blight resistance.

[6] To assemble the genetic variation needed for his breeding work, Hawtin spent a considerable time in his early career, together with his ICARDA research team collecting, preserving and protecting legume crops from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

[11] As the Director of the Agriculture of the Food and Nutrition Sciences Division of the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada he oversaw 400 projects in more than 70 countries.

He was involved in establishing the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP), both overseeing IDRC's role as implementing agency and chairing the Donor Support Group.

[21] Hawtin has served on several boards of trustees of non-governmental organizations dedicated to agricultural research or crop diversity:[20] He has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific and technical publications.

OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to global agrobiodiversity conservation, subsistence livelihood enhancement and sustainable food programmes"[28] 2021.