Thank you. It’s good to be with you. I want to thank Governor Vilsack for his decades of service on behalf of our home state and the American farmer. We see eye to eye when it comes to Iowa and the family farmer.
After serving as our governor and leading the helm at USDA for two administrations, Tom brings tested leadership skills and agriculture expertise to the policymaking table. I have no doubt he will put them to good use at the head of your table here at the World Food Prize Foundation.
Now, I realize it’s not an unplanned coincidence we’re meeting today on what would be Norman Borlaug’s 111th birthday. What a great reason to celebrate Dr. Borlaug’s lifelong mission together. We also honor our Food Security Heroes. Those who feed the world. Those driving real change in agriculture.
We’re gathered to continue dialogue to make sure there’s enough food on the table for the 10 billion people expected to live on the face of this Earth within the next 25 years.
Exactly 11 years ago today, I was honored to attend the ceremony honoring Dr. Borlaug on what would have been his 100th birthday. On that day, my home state honored this remarkable man with one of Iowa’s two statues in the U.S. Capitol. That is a testament to his life’s work and also Iowa’s agricultural heritage.
Iowa farmers take pride in embracing sustainable practices and adopting scientific innovation that increase crop yields and produce more food on fewer acres.
While I can’t take credit for saving a billion people from starvation, Dr. Borlaug and I do share a few other things in common. Our boyhood farms are both located in Northeast Iowa, about an hour away as the crow flies. I live within four miles of the farmhouse I was born in 91 years ago.
While Borlaug is known as the Father of the Green Revolution, I’ve been called the Father of Wind Energy. We’re both die-hard evangelists for agriculture – the world’s anchor to food security. And we happen to share the same middle name – Ernest. We apply that Iowa-bred earnestness on behalf of the farmer to achieve food security.
Around the policymaking tables in Congress, I like to remind my colleagues that society is only nine meals away from a revolution. It’s a fact of life if you can’t feed your family, you take any action to get food. It’s an honor to join global leaders today who are laser-focused on the urgent mission of global food security.
Since 1986, the World Food Prize Foundation has sown the seeds to grow leaders of tomorrow. By educating our next generation of scientists, agronomists, innovators, farmers and business leaders, you’re doing the Lord’s work to ensure the global food pantry can sustain a growing world population.
Bringing people together who are laser-focused on the urgency of global food security and collaborating with mission-focused solutions will help prevent the pangs of hunger from keeping a child and his mother awake at night.
As a lifelong Iowan, I’ve been impressed by the work of the World Food Prize Foundation and take pride that it’s headquartered in Des Moines. I’ve attended many [ceremonies] at the State Capitol Building.
You know, the World Food Prize is internationally referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.”
The recipients of this prestigious award are driving real change in agriculture, nutrition and food security. They’re making new discoveries to improve crop resilience, boost crop yields and strengthen sustainability.
The World Food Prize is fostering the next generation of leaders – perhaps even inspiring the next global humanitarian hero like Norman Borlaug – to keep their eyes on the prize and unlock food security for generations to come.
Like many farmers in Iowa and across America, my son and grandson are itching to get in the fields for spring planting. Whether you’re planting a corn seed in Iowa or a seed of rice in India, every generation of farmer is an eternal optimist. The seed they plant is dependent on soil temperature, sunshine and rain to germinate, grow and produce high-quality yields at harvest time.
The farmer is at the mercy of Mother Nature and grateful for scientific innovation that strengthens their crops to be drought- pest- and weed-resistant.
Farmers around the world benefit from innovation and sustainable farming practices that laureates from the World Food Prize have pursued with the same tireless commitment Dr. Borlaug cultivated in the fields of Mexico and India.
Their success stories reflect how the World Food Prize is fulfilling its mission to germinate the fruits of food security. The seed money bestowed to the laureates each October in Des Moines nourishes new breakthroughs that have transformed global agriculture to alleviate hunger and increase access to food.
As a federal policymaker with a seat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, I’d like to see stronger investment in agricultural research. As work continues on a new Farm Bill, we’re facing a tough budget environment. The work you do with the World Food Prize Foundation is increasingly important to help ensure food production keeps pace with demand for food security.
So, as our stewards of the soil put in the work preparing for the upcoming planting season, I want to thank the seed geneticists, agronomists and bio-scientists toiling day in and day out to beat hunger. Your work provides farmers the tools to grow enough food so billions of food-insecure people do not perish from this earth.
When world leaders come to my office to discuss agricultural trade, I take the opportunity to educate them about the safety of genetically engineered corn and soybeans. To prove that GMO grains are safe to eat, I show European parliamentarians that I’m a laboratory of that safety.
I keep a bag of soybeans from my farm in my office. During our conversation, I grab a handful and pop a few in my mouth. So, GMO grains are safe to eat and an essential driver for food security.
The World Food Prize Foundation has been a vital catalyst in this movement. I’m glad to partner with you to keep shining a bright light on food security and to continue the mission of Dr. Borlaug.
Thanks to all of you for coming together to tackle the complex challenges of feeding the world. This is a unique forum for action. Unique because it is the only global organization collaborating solely on agriculture and food [solutions].
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