[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9314-S9317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DR. NORMAN BORLAUG'S RECEIPT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, in a very beautiful ceremony in the
Rotunda of the Capitol this morning, Dr. Norman Borlaug was presented
with the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian award.
Dr. Borlaug, of course, as we know, is the father of the Green
Revolution and the winner of the Nobel Peace Price in 1970. In 1986 he
established a World Food Prize, which is headquartered in my home State
of Iowa, to recognize individuals who have improved the quality,
quantity, and availability of food around the globe.
Dr. Borlaug was born and raised in Iowa, earned his Ph.D. in plant
pathology and genetics at the University of Minnesota in 1942. After
graduation he went to work in Mexico where he developed high-yield,
disease-resistant varieties of wheat, which dramatically increased food
production.
He then went on to introduce these and other high-yield wheat
varieties in Pakistan and India, which had the effect of nearly
doubling production in those countries, saving countless lives.
It was pointed out this morning that in the previous 4,000 years,
rice production in those countries had leveled off, but in the 4 years
after Dr. Borlaug introduced his new strains of rice, they actually
doubled that production. Yields that had been basically unchanged for
4,000 years, they doubled in 4 years with new genetics and practices.
Iowans are a humble people. But we are very proud of the long line of
Iowans who have been extraordinary leaders in bringing food to a hungry
world, people such as Herbert Hoover, Henry C. Wallace, Henry A.
Wallace, and first and foremost, Dr. Norman Borlaug.
When I think of Dr. Borlaug's achievements, I am reminded of those
famous words in the Book of Proverbs:
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
More than half a century ago, Dr. Borlaug surveyed a world
where starvation and malnourishment were rampant. And he had
a vision of a Green Revolution. Because of that vision,
upwards of 1 billion lives were saved across the globe, which
is an accomplishment of staggering proportions.
Well, that's not bad for a kid who began his education in a one-room
rural schoolhouse near Cresco, IA.
Norman Borlaug has been called a great scientist, a great agronomist,
and a great humanitarian. Of course, he is all of those things. He is
also a great persuader, a man who time and again overcame political and
cultural challenges in order to spread his revolution, first in Mexico,
then in Asia, and now Africa.
The good news is that at the age of 93, Dr. Borlaug is still going
strong, still curious and creative, still full of dreams for changing
the world. As I said, he started the World Food Prize and has devoted a
great deal of time and energy to strengthen and elevate that initiative
with crucial help from John Ruan of Des Moines. There is, for example,
the World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan Internship Program, in which young
people, about 100 every year, take part. They present papers on
research in different parts of the world, and then a number are chosen
and are sent as interns to places around the world to learn and begin
the process, as Norman Borlaug did, of working with people to expand
food production.
Let me just read from one paragraph of Norman Borlaug's statement on
the occasion of the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony this morning on
July 17.
He ended his remarks by saying:
My plea today to the members of Congress and to the
Administration is to re-commit the United States to more
dynamic and generous programs of official development
assistance in agriculture for Third World nations, as was
done in the 1960s and 1970s. Ever-shrinking foreign aid
budgets in support of smallholder agriculture, and especially
to multilateral research and development organizations such
as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT) where I have worked for 40 years, as well as its
sister research institutes under the Consultative Group for
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), are not in our
nation's best interest, nor do they represent our finest
traditions.
In other words, he is saying cuts to these programs that we are
making are not in our Nation's best interests and do not represent our
finest traditions.
As you chart the course of this great nation
Dr. Borlaug tells us--
for the future benefit of our children, grand-children, and
great-grandchildren, I ask you to think more boldly and
humanely about the Third World and develop a new version of
the Marshall plan, this time not to rescue a war-torn Europe,
but now to help the nearly one billion, mostly rural poor
people still trapped in hunger and misery. It is within
America's technical and financial power to help end this
human tragedy and injustice, if we set our hearts and minds
to the task.
One more thing that Norman Borlaug said this morning, is this: When
people are in misery and they are hungry and they do not have enough to
eat, all kinds of ``isms'' begin to flourish, including terrorism.
He said, if we really want to get at the root cause of terrorism and
the recruitment of terrorists, feed a hungry world. Make sure everyone
has enough to eat.
I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the full statement of
Norman E. Borlaug on the occasion of his receiving the Congressional
Gold Medal this morning.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Norman E. Borlaug--Statement on the occasion of the Congressional Gold
Medal Ceremony, United States Capitol, July 17, 2007
It is a great honor to be awarded the Congressional Gold
Medal, in recognition of my work to feed a hungry world. I
thank members of Congress for giving me an opportunity to
comment on the challenges and complexities of feeding a world
of 10 billion people who I expect will be living on the
planet Earth sometime this century.
When I was born--in 1914--there were only 1.6 billion
people on Earth. Today, we are 6.5 billion and growing by 80
million per year. The task of feeding this growing population
has been made more complex, since agriculture is now being
asked not only to produce food, feed and fiber, but also raw
materials for bio-fuels. Thus, there is no room for
complacency for those of us working on the food front.
I am now in my 63rd year of continuous involvement in
agricultural research and production in low-income, food-
deficit developing countries. I have worked with many
scientists, political leaders, and farmers to transform food
production systems. Any achievements I have made have been
possible through my participation in this army of hunger
fighters. There are too many to name, but you know who you
are. I thank you for your dedication and assistance all of
these years. I also thank my family, and my late wife
Margaret, for the understanding and unselfish support you
have given me
The Green Revolution was a great historic success. In 1960,
perhaps 60 percent of the world's people felt hunger during
some portion of the year. By the year 2000, the proportion of
hungry in the world had dropped to 14 percent of the total
population. Still, this figure translated to 850 million men,
women and children who lacked sufficient calories and protein
to grow strong and healthy bodies. Thus, despite the
successes of the Green Revolution, the battle to ensure food
security for hundreds of millions of miserably poor people is
far from won.
The Green revolution
The breakthroughs in wheat and rice production in Asia in
the mid-1960s, which came to be known as the Green
Revolution, symbolized the beginning of a process of using
agricultural science to develop modern techniques for the
Third World. It began in Mexico with the ``quiet'' wheat
revolution in the late 1950s. During the 1960s and 1970s,
India,
[[Page S9315]]
Pakistan, and the Philippines received world attention for
their agricultural progress. In the 1980s and 1990s, China,
home to one fifth of the world's people, has been the
greatest success story. China today is the world's biggest
food producer and its crop yields are approaching those of
the United States with every successive year. However, it is
almost certain, that China and India--home to one third of
the world's people--will become the largest agricultural
importers in the coming decades, as their economies shift
from being agrarian to industrial.
Critics of modern agricultural technology invariably turn a
blind eye on what the world would have been like without the
technological advances that have occurred, largely during the
past 50 years. For those whose main concern is protecting the
``environment,'' let's look at the positive impact that the
application of science-based technology has had on land use.
If the global cereal yields of 1950 still prevailed in 2000
we would have needed nearly 1.2 billion ha of additional land
of the same quality--instead of the 660 million ha that was
used--to achieve the global harvest of that year. Obviously,
such a surplus of land was not available, and certainly not
in populous Asia, where the population had increased from 1.2
to 3.8 billion over this period. Moreover, if more
environmentally fragile land had been brought into
agricultural production, the impact on soil erosion, loss of
forests and grasslands, biodiversity and extinction of
wildlife species would have been enormous and disastrous.
At least in the foreseeable future, plants--and especially
the cereals--will continue to supply much of our increased
food demand, both for direct human consumption and as
livestock feed to satisfy the rapidly growing demand for meat
in the newly industrializing countries. It is likely that an
additional 1 billion metric tons of grain will be needed
annually by 2025, just to feed the world, let alone fuel its
vehicles. Most of this increase must come from lands already
in production through yield improvements. Fortunately, such
productivity improvements in crop management can be made all
along the line--in plant breeding, crop management, tillage,
water use, fertilization, weed and pest control, and
harvesting.
Africa's food production challenges
More than any other region of the world, African food
production is in crisis. High rates of population growth and
little application of improved production technology during
the last two decades resulted in declining per capita food
production, escalating food deficits, deteriorating
nutritional levels, especially among the rural poor, and
devastating environmental degradation. While there are
more signs since 2000 that smallholder food production is
beginning to turn around, this recovery is still very
fragile.
Sub-Saharan Africa's extreme poverty, poor soils, uncertain
rainfall, increasing population pressures, changing ownership
patterns for land and cattle, political and social turmoil,
shortages of trained agriculturalists, and weaknesses in
research and technology delivery systems all make the task of
agricultural development more difficult. But we should also
realize that to a considerable extent, the present food
crisis is the result of the long-time neglect of agriculture
by political leaders. Even though agriculture provides
livelihoods to 70-85 percent of the people in most countries,
agricultural and rural development has been given low
priority. Investments in food distribution and marketing
systems and in agricultural research and education are
woefully inadequate. Furthermore, many governments pursued
and continue to pursue a policy of providing cheap food for
the politically volatile urban dwellers at the expense of
production incentives for farmers.
In 1986 I became involved in food crop technology transfer
projects in sub-Saharan Africa, sponsored by the Nippon
Foundation and its Chairman, the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, and
enthusiastically supported by former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter. Our joint program is known as Sasakawa-Global 2000,
and has operated in 14 sub-Saharan African countries the past
20 years. We have assisted several million small-scale
farmers to grow extension demonstration plots for basic food
crops: maize, rice, sorghum, millet, wheat, cassava, and
grain legumes.
The recommended production technologies come from national
and international agricultural research organizations, and
include: (1) the use of the best available commercial
varieties or hybrids (2) proper land preparation and seeding
to achieve good stand establishment, (3) proper application
of the appropriate fertilizers and, when needed, crop
protection chemicals, (4) timely weed control, and (5)
moisture conservation and/or better water use if under
irrigation. We also work with participating farm families to
improve on-farm storage of agricultural production, both to
reduce grain losses due to spoilage and infestation and to
allow farmers to hold stocks longer to exploit periods when
prices in the marketplace are more favorable. Virtually
without exception, farmers obtain grain yields that are two
to three times higher on their demonstration plots than has
been traditionally the case. Farmers' enthusiasm is high and
political leaders are taking much interest in the program.
Despite the formidable challenges in Africa, the elements
that worked in Latin America and Asia will also work there.
With more effective seed, fertilizer supply and marketing
systems, hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers in
Africa can make great strides in improving the nutritional
and economic well being of their populations. The biggest
bottleneck that must be overcome is lack of infrastructure,
especially roads and transport, but also potable water and
electricity. In particular, improved transport systems would
greatly accelerate agricultural production, break down tribal
animosities, and help establish rural schools and clinics in
areas where teachers and health practitioners are heretofore
unwilling to venture.
Crop research challenges
Crop productivity depends both on the yield potential of
the varieties and the crop management employed to enhance
input and output efficiency. Agricultural researchers and
farmers worldwide face the challenge during the next 25 years
of developing and applying technology that can increase the
global cereal yields by 50-75 percent, and to do so in ways
that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Much
of the yield gains will come from applying technology
``already on the shelf'' but yet to be fully utilized. But
there will also be new research breakthroughs, especially in
plant breeding to improve yield stability and, hopefully,
maximum genetic yield potential.
While we must continue to push the frontiers of science
forward, we also must be mindful of the need to protect the
gains already made. Agriculture is a continuing struggle
against mutating pathogens and insects. A clear example is
the new race of stem rust that has emerged in East Africa,
which is capable of devastating most of the world's
commercial bread wheat varieties. Ironically, I began my
career in agricultural science combating stem rust some 60
years ago and I am now in the twilight of my life, once again
facing my old nemesis. There hasn't been a major stem rust
epidemic for more than 50 years, since the virulent race
called 15B devastated much of the North America wheat crop
during 1950-54. Out of that crisis came new forms of
international cooperation in plant breeding, which led to
accelerated development around the world of high-yielding,
disease-resistant, broadly adapted wheat varieties. However,
in the ensuing years, complacency, increasing barriers to
international exchange of plant breeding materials,
declining budgets, staff retirements and discontinuity in
training programs, has resulted in a much weakened system.
This has been evident in the slow international response
to a very serious new stem rust race, called Ug99, first
spotted in Uganda and Kenya in the late 1990s. Ug99 has
now escaped from Africa and begun its migration to North
Africa and the Middle East. It won't be long before it
reaches South Asia and later China, North America and the
rest of the wheat-growing world. Wheat scientists are now
scrambling to control this disease before it gains a
foothold and causes catastrophic losses to the livelihoods
of several hundred million wheat farmers and widespread
global wheat shortages that will affect prices and the
welfare of several billion consumers. Since 2005,
excellent collaboration has been forthcoming from the
USDA, key land grant universities, and USAID. A far-
reaching research program is being considered by a major
U.S. foundation located in Seattle that if approved could
solidify and accelerate the progress to date. As part of
this research effort we also hope to identify why rice,
alone among the cereals, is immune to the rust fungi, and
then use biotechnology to transfer this genetic immunity
from rice to wheat and other cereals. If we are successful
in this quest, the scourge of rust, mentioned in the
bible, could finally be banished from the Earth.
What can we expect from biotechnology?
During the 20th Century, conventional plant breeding has
produced--and continues to produce--modern crop varieties and
hybrids that have contributed immensely to grain yield
potential, disease and insect resistance, stability of
harvests and farm incomes, while sparing vast tracts of land
for other uses, such as wildlife habitats, forests, and
outdoor recreation.
The majority of agricultural scientists including myself
anticipate great benefits from biotechnology in the coming
decades to help meet our future needs for food, feed, fiber,
and bio-fuels. Promising work, now utilizing the powerful new
tools of biotechnology, is also under way to develop greater
tolerance of climatic extremes, such as drought, heat, and
cold. Such research is likely to become more important in the
future as the world experiences the effects of climate
change. We must also persist in scientific efforts to raise
maximum genetic yield potential to increase food production
on lands currently in use while protecting against serious
negative environmental impacts.
Seventy percent of global water withdrawals are used for
irrigating agricultural lands, which account for 17 percent
of total cultivated land yet contribute 40 percent of our
global food harvest. Expanding the area under irrigation is
critical to meeting future food demand. However, competing
urban demands for water will require much great efficiencies
in agricultural water use. Through biotechnology we will be
able to achieve ``more crop per drop'' by designing plants
with reduced water requirements and adoption of improved
crop/water management systems.
Developing country governments need to be prepared to work
with--and benefit
[[Page S9316]]
from--the new breakthroughs in biotechnology. Regulatory
frameworks are needed to guide the testing and use of
genetically modified crops, which protect public welfare and
the environment against undue risk. They must be cost
effective to implement yet not be so restrictive that science
cannot advance.
Since the private sector patents its life science
inventions, agricultural policy makers must be vigilant in
guarding against too much concentration of ownership and also
be concerned about equity of access issues, especially for
poor farmers. These are legitimate matters for debate by
national, regional and global governmental organizations.
Even with private sector leadership in biotechnology
research I believe that governments should also fund
significant public research programs. This is not only
important as a complement and balance to private sector
proprietary research, but is also needed to ensure the proper
training of new generations of scientists, both for private
and public sector research institutions.
U.S. agriculture is being asked to produce more food, feed,
fiber and now biofuels, while protecting the environment and
not greatly increasing land use. Science is ready for the
task, but science will not succeed without wise and adequate
support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and
its congressional committees. Traditional programs of
research and education at USDA and in the land grant
universities must continue. Congress must also invest more
generously in fundamental research to learn more about the
cellular and molecular events that determine how plants and
animals reproduce, grow and fight off stresses such as
drought, cold and disease. Most of these major innovations
will start first with acquiring deeper fundamental
understanding.
Getting the most from fundamental research will require
changes in the culture of decision making in public
agricultural institutions. Leading scientists must be
involved in deciding which programs have scientific merit and
in setting realistic scientific priorities. There should be a
council, like those of the National Institutes of Health,
where scientists and stakeholders can pool their wisdom in
recommending research priorities. Building such changes into
the current farm bill is a high priority.
Educating urbanites about agriculture
The current backlash against agricultural science and
technology evident in some industrialized countries is hard
for me to comprehend. How quickly humankind becomes detached
from the soil and agricultural production! Less than 4
percent of the population in the industrialized countries
(less than 2 percent in the USA) is directly engaged in
agriculture. With low-cost food supplies and urban bias, is
it any wonder that consumers don't understand the
complexities of re-producing the world food supply each year
in its entirety, and expanding it further for the nearly 80
million new mouths that are born into this world annually? I
believe we can help address this ``educational gap'' by
making it compulsory in secondary schools and universities
for students to take courses on agriculture, biology, and
science and technology policy.
One exciting high school program, in which I am personally
involved, is the World Food Prize Youth Institute program
originated by Des Moines philanthropist Juan Ruan and led by
the World Food Prize Foundation. Each year, more than a 100
high school students, mainly from Iowa but now expanding to
other states and countries, convene at the George Washington
Carver auditorium at Pioneer Hybrid Company headquarters in
Johnston, Iowa, with teachers and parents, to present their
well-researched essays on about how to increase the quantity,
quality, and availability of food around the world. They make
these presentations in front of past and present World Food
Prize laureates and other experts, and lively discussions
ensue. Each year, a select few graduating seniors win travel
fellowships to go to a developing country where they live and
work at an agricultural research institute, and learn first
hand about hunger and poverty, and the role that science and
technology can play to alleviate these calamities. It is
especially gratifying to see the growth and development of
these young, mostly female, summer interns. It literally is a
life-changing experience for them, and it shows in their
performance at university and in career selections. More
programs like this are needed, so that future generations of
Americans have a better sense about the complexities and
challenges of feeding a growing world.
Agriculture and the environment
As the pace of technological change has accelerated the
past 50 years, the fear of science has grown. Certainly, the
breaking of the atom and the prospects of a nuclear holocaust
added to people's fear, and drove a bigger wedge between the
scientist and the layman. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring,
published in 1962, which reported that poisons were
everywhere, also struck a very sensitive nerve. Of course,
this perception was not totally unfounded. By the mid 20th
century air and water quality had been seriously damaged
through wasteful industrial production systems that pushed
effluents often literally into ``our own backyards.''
We all owe a debt of gratitude to environmental movement in
the industrialized nations, which has led to legislation over
the past 40 years to improve air and water quality, protect
wildlife, control the disposal of toxic wastes, protect the
soils, and reduce the loss of biodiversity. However, these
positive environmental trends are not found in the developing
countries, where environmental degradation, especially in
Africa, threatens ecological stability if not reversed.
There is often a deadlock between agriculturalists and
environmentalists over what constitutes ``sustainable
agriculture'' in the Third World. This debate has confused--
if not paralyzed--many in the international donor community
who, afraid of antagonizing powerful environmental lobbying
groups, have turned away from supporting science-based
agricultural modernization projects still needed in much of
smallholder Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. This
deadlock must be broken.
We cannot lose sight of the enormous job before us to feed
10 billion people, 90 percent of whom will begin life in a
developing country, and many in poverty. Only through dynamic
agricultural development will there be any hope to alleviate
poverty and improve human health and productivity, and
reducing political instability.
Closing comments
Thirty-seven years ago, in my acceptance speech for the
Nobel Peace Prize, I said that the Green Revolution had won a
temporary success in man's war against hunger, which if fully
implemented, could provide sufficient food for humankind
through the end of the 20th century. But I warned that
unless the frightening power of human reproduction was
curbed, the success of the Green Revolution would only be
ephemeral.
It took some 10,000 years to expand food production to the
current level of about 5 billion tons per year. By 2050, we
will likely need to nearly double current production again.
This cannot be done unless farmers across the world have
access to high-yielding crop production methods as well as
new biotechnological breakthroughs that can increase the crop
yields, dependability, and nutritional quality. Indeed, it is
higher farm incomes that will permit small-scale farmers in
the Third World to make desperately needed investments to
protect their natural resources. As Kenyan archeologist
Richard Leakey likes to reminds us, ``you have to be well-fed
to be a conservationist.'' We have to bring common sense into
the debate on agricultural science and technology and the
sooner the better!
The United States is the greatest agricultural success
story of the 20th Century. Through science and technology and
farmer ingenuity, American agriculture has achieved levels of
productivity second to none. We also have a great tradition,
especially in earlier decades, of helping low-income; food-
deficit nations to get their own agricultural systems moving.
Our private agri-businesses have invested heavily in the
development of productivity-enhancing technology, not only to
the benefit of this country but also around the world.
American public institutions--the land-grant universities and
colleges, the USDA, and the U.S. Department of State--have
played key roles in the transformation of subsistence
agriculture, especially in Asia and Latin America. This has
been good for the American people and the world. Lest we
forget, world peace will not be built on empty stomachs or
human misery.
I would be remiss if I did not thank the Administration for
establishing the USDA Borlaug Fellows program in 2004, in my
honor, at the time of my 90th birthday. This is an
international program that actively engages universities like
my own Texas A & M University, my alma mater, the University
of Minnesota, and many other of our fine land grant
universities and colleges. The Borlaug fellows program also
has links to the international agricultural research centers
located abroad and to private agro-industry. The aim is to
provide relatively young scientists from developing countries
with opportunities to travel to the USA to gain practical
experience and upgrade their technical skills at advanced
agricultural laboratories. So far, USDA has been able, with
the assistance of USAID, to piece together funding for about
150 Borlaug fellows to come to the United States each year.
With more permanent funding, along the lines of the Fulbright
program, USDA and the partner universities could implement a
more substantial range of learning and personal development
opportunities for young scientists and agricultural leaders
from developing countries. This would be good for the
individual recipients, their sponsoring institutions and
countries, and also, I believe, for America. Texas A&M
University and Ohio State University have been working
through the National Association of State Universities and
Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) to prepare a more substantial
proposal for consideration by Congress.
My plea today to the members of Congress and to the
Administration is to re-commit the United States to more
dynamic and generous programs of official development
assistance in agriculture for Third World nations, as was
done in the 1960s and 1970s. Ever-shrinking foreign aid
budgets in support of smallholder agriculture, and especially
to multilateral research and development organizations such
as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT) where I have worked for 40 years, as well as its
sister research institutes under the Consultative Group for
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), are not in our
nation's best interest, nor do they represent our finest
traditions.
[[Page S9317]]
As you chart the course of this great nation for the future
benefit of our children, grand-children, and great-
grandchildren, I ask you to think more boldly and humanely
about the Third World and develop a new version of the
Marshall plan, this time not to rescue a war-torn Europe, but
now to help the nearly one billion, mostly rural poor people
still trapped in hunger and misery. It is within America's
technical and financial power to help end this human tragedy
and injustice, if we set our hearts and minds to the task.
Mr. HARKIN. I yield the floor.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, earlier today in the Capitol Rotunda we
honored Dr. Norman Borlaug with the Congressional Gold Medal. This is
the highest expression of national appreciation.
At least two-thirds of Federal lawmakers must sign on to support a
nominee before his or her nomination is allowed to advance through
Committees in the House and Senate. Previous recipients include
distinguished public servants, military heroes, humanitarians,
entertainers, musicians, authors, athletes, religious leaders and
pioneers in the fields of medicine, science, and aeronautics including
our Nation's first President, George Washington.
Many of you know that I farm in Iowa with my son Robin.
Those of us farming take satisfaction in feeding people through our
labors.
Through his labors, Dr. Borlaug has been able to feed many more
people that Robin and I will ever be able to, even if we worked day and
night.
He has spared more people from the sharp hunger pains that strike an
empty stomach than anyone of us could ever dream of doing.
He has saved more lives than any other person in history.
An extraordinary man, with a brilliant vision, and the common sense
to turn his dreams into a reality--that's Norm Borlaug.
I am grateful, but not surprised, that it didn't take long for
Congress to advance the legislation giving Dr. Borlaug this award.
A few years ago, I spoke with Dr. Borlaug just outside the Senate
Chamber.
It was overwhelming just how many Senators came off the Senate floor
to shake hands with him.
I was glad to be able to claim Dr. Borlaug as a native Iowan who has
become a true citizen of the world--from a boyhood on a farm in
northeast Iowa--a one-room schoolhouse--to a PhD in plant pathology, to
decades in the poorest areas of rural Mexico, and a life of scientific
breakthroughs to ease malnutrition and famine all over the world. His
work in biotechnology has vastly improved food security for countries
including India, Pakistan, and Mexico. This humanitarian hero has been
instrumental in seeking social justice and promoting peace around the
world.
Far from resting on his laurels, Dr. Borlaug continues to inspire
future generations of scientists and farmers to innovate and lift those
mired in poverty.
As a fellow Iowan said, ``If you never stick your neck out, you'll
never get your head above the crowd.''
Dr. Borlaug stuck his neck out and became a hero and a legend.
He deserves every bit of recognition and gratitude we can find to
offer him.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me today in
honoring Dr. Norman Borlaug of Dallas, TX.
Today, Dr. Borlaug receives the Congressional Gold Medal--the
Nation's highest civilian decoration.
Dr. Borlaug's service to the world's hungry was cultivated on his
boyhood farm in Iowa where he learned the value of hard work. He
sharpened his knowledge of agriculture and science at the University of
Minnesota and later applied his farm and classroom experiences to
researching and developing high-yield wheat varieties in Mexico that
thrived in arid conditions. Under his leadership, these innovative
crops were introduced into India, Pakistan, and later Africa, having
since fed the hungry in astonishing numbers.
Never allowing himself to become satisfied with the status quo, Dr.
Borlaug continued his humanitarian efforts, paving the way for other
scientists to fight hunger and to feed the world's increasing
population. Dr. Borlaug created the annual World Food Prize to
recognize and reward those who advance human development by improving
the quality, quantity, and availability of food in the world.
Each fall semester, Dr. Borlaug returns to Texas A&M University to
teach those who would follow in his footsteps and continue to innovate.
In his role as distinguished professor of international agriculture in
the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, aspiring Aggie students have
the opportunity to witness hard-working benevolence and learn from one
of mankind's greatest and most humble benefactors.
There are many lessons we can learn from Dr. Borlaug's service. This
man saw a need and applied his education to the realities of poverty
and hunger. He chose to put his hands in the soil and work to make a
vision become reality.
Dr. Borlaug reminds us that a single individual with the knowledge
and courage to make a difference can indeed change the world.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the most recent addition to a long
list of accolades that Dr. Borlaug has earned throughout his lifetime,
including the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his innovative work in
agriculture. It has been suggested that Dr. Borlaug's humanitarian
efforts have saved the lives of perhaps one billion of the world's
hungry, and through his ongoing legacy of leadership his work will feed
many more.
We join in gratitude for his consistent dedication in applying the
agricultural sciences to benefit so many. I am honored to have been
able to cosponsor this award for Dr. Borlaug.
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