The U.S. House passed a resolution Wednesday honoring Iowa native Norman Borlaug “for helping reduce world hunger.”
Republican Congressman Tom Latham from Ames, Iowa said Borlaug continued his life’s work right up until his death.
“His innovative leadership and plant breeding and agriculture production gave birth to what we know today as the Green Revolution,” Latham told House colleagues Wednesday, “and he’s credited with saving over a billion, that’s with a ‘b’, a billion lives from starvation.”
AUDIO: House members honor Borlaug (22 min. MP3)
Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley from Waterloo, Iowa praised Borlaug citing what he’d accomplished to alleviate world hunger. Congressman Braley wondered aloud on the House floor why every school child in America is not familiar with Dr. Borlaug and his work.
“Why is it that we live in a culture that celebrates celebrity more than achievement?” asked Braley. “The reason why we are introducing this bill today is to give proper recognition to one of the greatest Americans who ever lived; that’s the truth.”
Republican Congressman Steve King from Kiron said Borlaug had a global reach that cannot be over-emphasized.
“Dr. Norman Borlaug swept aside the fears of the Malthusians and proved that this planet will produce a lot more food than was previously imagined and that was before we got to this point of some of the genetic tools that we have within the laboratory today,” King said in remarks honoring Borlaug.
Borlaug, a native of Cresco, Iowa, won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in plant genetics. He died earlier this month at the age of 95.
Radio Iowa reporter O. Kay Henderson contributed to this article.
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