OMAHA (DTN) -- Agricultural and food-advocacy elites from around the world meet this week in Des Moines for The Borlaug Dialogue.

For one week each year, The Borlaug Dialogue has become the center of intellectual discussion in the global agricultural and world hunger community. Named after famed Iowa-raised agronomist Norman Borlaug, the program has grown into a weeklong series of events and forums anchored around what is this year's 25th anniversary of the World Food Prize Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium and laureate award ceremony.

Before dying in 2009, Borlaug had become known as the father of the Green Revolution and was a 1970 winner the Nobel Peace Prize. Borlaug's plant breeding research and crop-production techniques helped improve food security in countries such as India, Mexico and Pakistan. Obituaries about Borlaug simply declared his work helped save the lives of perhaps a billion people.

The event, which will draw more than 1,000 people, includes several former presidents of foreign countries, as well as executives from global food companies, foundation executives, policy experts and food scientists. This year's World Food Prize laureates are John Agyekum Kufor, the former president of Ghana, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil.

Kufor and Lula de Silva won the awards for developing policies and programs in their own countries that have successfully reduced hunger and poverty. A report on Brazil given last year at the World Food Prize showed Brazil had seen a decline in the need for its food-aid programs as the country has exploded as an agricultural power. Brazil has a large soybean and corn crop as well as booming protein production that has grown 212% in broilers, 73% in beef and 128% in pork since 1995.

"When we have enough food, the price of the food is low and the parents have enough access to it," said Beatriz da Silveira Pinheiro, director-general of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corp. at a World Food Prize forum last year.

Farmer and author Howard G. Buffett, president of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, provides the keynote address on Wednesday and will announce a new advocacy report on hunger in Africa. Buffett, son of the famed investor Warren, authored and shot photography for the book "Fragile" on global hunger. Buffett was a keynote speaker at the DTN Ag Summit in 2009.

The symposium examines several major issues in global agriculture, including questions around sustainability and biotechnology. In recent years, the event has elevated discussion of how to handle famine and political instability in Africa, as well as how the agricultural industry must respond to the rising global population and climate change.

Those perspectives on what's working are partially what draw world leaders to the event. The former presidents of Mozambique, Gambia and Nigeria are among those scheduled to participate in forums.

The symposium this year will examine the following questions:

-- What are the most pressing future challenges that the global community will face in fighting hunger and poverty?

-- Who will be the next generation of leaders to confront such challenges and how do we best prepare and develop these leaders?

-- What are the next generation of technologies, methodologies, models and solutions to overcome such challenges?

The World Food Prize also celebrates the opening of the Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines. The foundation spent nearly $30 million to convert the century-old downtown Des Moines Public Library into a museum and conference center that will be officially unveiled on Wednesday. Future World Food Prize symposiums are expected to move to the restored building.

Each year, the World Food Prize events also broaden as food-aid groups, foundations and companies hold side forums or announcements to coincide with the symposium.

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The biotech agricultural advocacy group Truth About Trade and Technology brings in farmers globally to talk about biotech crop technology challenges. CropLife International, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa also will host special seminars or speeches.

The Iowa Food Summit, in its fifth year, has built on attendance to the World Food Prize symposium with more forums, panel discussions and tours to Iowa researching facilities, agricultural businesses and farms. Those events are held Tuesday.

A lecture series of mostly World Food Prize laureates has also broadened out to special speeches at not only Iowa colleges and universities such as Iowa State University in Ames, but others as well, including the University of Minnesota.

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(CZ/AG)

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