[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 112 (Friday, July 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING DR. NORMAN E. BORLAUG UPON THE AWARD OF HIS CONGRESSIONAL GOLD 
                                 MEDAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CHET EDWARDS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 12, 2007

  Mr. EDWARDS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a very special 
American; a husband, father, grandfather, agricultural pioneer, and 
Nobel Peace Prize winner. To his family, he's Norman Borlaug, Daddy, or 
Two Daddy. For us, we now add ``winner of the Congressional Gold 
Medal'' to his many titles and accolades.
  Joining many of my colleagues, I was proud to support the Dr. Norman 
E. Borlaug Act of 2006 presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. 
Borlaug, in recognition of his enduring contributions to the United 
States and the world. In 1970, Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace 
Prize for his successful efforts to find a high yielding, disease-
resistant wheat, which was mass produced in developing nations across 
the world to combat mass starvation.
  It is with pleasure that I take the time to honor this great man, 
who, despite his unrivaled achievements maintained his humility and was 
always motivated by the greater good. Dr. Borlaug's agricultural 
achievements to combat hunger have saved countless lives and inspired 
others to follow in his footsteps. It is an honor to represent an 
American hero whose life and work has made the world a better place by 
elevating the human condition.
  Dr. Borlaug's untiring efforts to feed the hungry stem from his 
college years during the Great Depression, when he earned meals by 
waiting tables in a restaurant. After World War II, his research to 
find ways to increase wheat yields developed a shorter plant which was 
easier to harvest, and that gave more food to people in Mexico. Before 
long, Dr. Borlaug was in demand both for cultivating the land and in 
consulting with world leaders.
  Dr. Borlaug once said there is no magic in high-yielding seed, that 
people just have to know how to grow, when to plant, how to control 
weeds and how to manage water. He may be right about that, but Dr. 
Borlaug's almost magical ability to bring people together to learn how 
to produce food has been a blessing to millions. With humble thanks, I 
congratulate Dr. Borlaug on the occasion of the Congressional Gold 
Medal, an honor well-deserved for his scientific advancements that have 
reshaped the world for the better.


                         Dr. Norman E. Borlaug

  Known as the father of the Green Revolution, Norman Ernest Borlaug 
was born in 1914 on a farm near Cresco, Iowa. After completing his 
early education in his hometown, he went on to study forestry and plant 
pathology at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his 
bachelor's and master's degrees and completed his doctorate in 1942. 
After two years as a microbiologist with the DuPont de Nemours 
Foundation, he took on the challenge of leading the wheat improvement 
efforts of the Cooperative Mexican Agricultural Program, sponsored by 
the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation.

  In Mexico, Dr. Borlaug's scientific knowledge found expression in a 
humanitarian mission: developing improved grain varieties to feed the 
hungry people of the world. A practical, energetic, hands-on 
researcher, Dr. Borlaug worked in the fields alongside farm workers, 
students, and interns, sharing his knowledge as well as the labor of 
producing food crops. During his twenty years in Mexico, Dr. Borlaug 
and his colleagues perfected a dwarf wheat variety that could produce 
large amounts of grain, resist diseases, and resist lodging--the 
bending and breaking of the stalk that often occurs in high-yielding 
grains. Under Dr. Borlaug's guidance, this new wheat was planted with 
great success, not only in Mexico, but also in India and Pakistan. In 
subsequent years, the wheat was planted in nations in Central and South 
America, the Near and Middle East, and Africa.
  In 1964, Dr. Borlaug was appointed director of the Wheat Research and 
Production Program at the then newly established International Maize 
and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) near Mexico City. This position 
allowed him to expand his teaching mission. He shared his immense 
knowledge of research and production methods with thousands of young 
scientists from all over the world, ``seeding'' agricultural production 
in their home countries with new ideas and new productivity.
  Despite having received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970--and, over the 
years, multitudinous honors and recognitions from universities, 
governments, and organizations worldwide--Dr. Borlaug remains a deeply 
humble and practical man who has been as productive after winning this 
major honor as he was before.
  He came to Texas A&M University in 1984 as Distinguished Professor of 
International Agriculture and has continued to teach and inspire young 
scientists at Texas A&M and at CIMMYT. Hailed as having saved more 
lives than anyone else in the history of mankind, Dr. Borlaug cites as 
one of his most prized tributes the naming of a street in his honor in 
Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico--the site of some of his earliest 
research projects.

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