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U.S. Rep. Boswell: Honoring the life and achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug
10/5/2009



Congressman Leonard Boswell joined with his colleagues in the House of Representatives last week to pass H.Res 739, a resolution to recognize the life, achievements, and contributions of Dr. Norman Borlaug. In the week following his death, Congressman Boswell drafted and introduced this resolution to celebrate an extraordinary Iowan who is credited with feeding more than 1 billion of the world’s hungry.

Dr. Borlaug was born on a small farm outside of Cresco, Iowa, and earned his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. In 1944, he joined a research project in Mexico and through his work there he developed a type of wheat that tripled grain output. This “miracle wheat” helped Mexico achieve agricultural self-sufficiency and later helped Pakistan and India to avert mass famines that had appeared imminent before Dr. Borlaug intervened.

Not only was Dr. Borlaug a renowned scientist, but he is also known as one of the world’s greatest humanitarians. He is one of only five people in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. The other four are Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also named by Time magazine in 1999 as one of the 100 most influential minds of the 20th century.

Dr. Borlaug did not forget his Iowa roots and headquartered the World Food Prize in the state’s capital city of Des Moines. As the only Nobel Prize recipient to earn the award for achievements in agricultural science, he started the World Food Prize to recognize similar contributions in agriculture and food. The World Food Prize, founded in 1986, honors life-saving achievements that increase the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Now in its 23rd year, the awarded has been given to individuals from around the world and has continued to promote global food security.

H.Res. 739 was passed by the House on September 30. The other four Members of Iowa’s delegation in the House, Reps. Bruce Braley, Dave Loebsack, Tom Latham, and Steve King, were original co-sponsors of the resolution. They have also joined together with Senators Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley to petition Iowa Governor Chet Culver and the state Legislature for a statute to be commissioned of Dr. Borlaug and housed as one of Iowa’s statutes in the U.S. Capitol. Each state is allowed two statutes in the U.S. Capitol. Iowa currently has statues of James Harlan and Samuel J. Kirkwood, who both served as U.S. senators, and Secretaries of the Interior. Kirkwood was also Iowa’s governor during the Civil War.

Many in Iowa, the U.S., and around the world continue to mourn the loss of Dr. Borlaug as a revolutionary man whose contributions in the field of agriculture and commitment to the human condition has had and will continue to have a profound impact on all of us.

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