Last week, I attended The World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.  I had never even heard of this event, but because someone in our office had surgery on her knee, I was fortunately able to attend in her place. Neither did I ever hear of this man that had started this event, Dr. Norman Borlaug. He is apparently very well-known in many third world or former third world countries, such as India, Mexico as well as countries in Africa.  His work in developing crops for different regions of the world has helped feed generations of people.  In fact, he is credited for saving a billion lives.  Dr. Borlaug is one of only one of five people in all of history to be awarded 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.  Every year, the organization that Dr. Borlaug and Iowa entrepreneur, John Ruan Sr. and family started, The World Food Prize, recognizes the one person or group in the world who has contributed most to helping solve world hunger.  This year, the award went to Purdue University professor, Dr. Phil Nelson, who invented a way to preserve and ship millions of gallons of fresh food across the country without refrigeration.  If you drink Tropicana orange juice that’s not from concentrate, you’ve had a product that was developed by Dr. Nelson.

So attending this conference were some of the highest level figures in U.S. and world agriculture, including Hugh Grant (not the actor) Chairman of Monsanto and Charles Holliday Chairman of DuPont, everyone paying their respects to this man that I just heard of, now currently 93 years old.

First of all, I was embarrassed that I had never heard of this man, and also upset that my midwestern education never taught me about this man’s achievements in school.  How could we miss this?  I don’t know what’s taught in schools these days, but at least some mention in US and world history in regards to world hunger, and what’s going with developing new breeds of crops more resistant to pests, that need less water and are more adaptive to harsh climates should have some mention of Dr. Borlaug.

If you want to know more about Dr. Borlaug and The World Food Prize, just go to this link: The World Food Prize Link.

I’ll write more about what I heard at The World Food Prize later.  There was also several symposiums on the topic of food vs. biofuels.