Print This PageHugh Grant Remarks at the Des Moines Library - February 15, 2008
Hugh Grant Remarks at the Des Moines Library - February 15, 2008
Thank you, Ambassador Quinn. And thanks to all of you in the audience for braving the cold today. It’s also very good to see so many faces from the Monsanto Ankeny family here as well. I’m happy to be back in Des Moines today to celebrate the vision that Norman Borlaug started decades ago. You know, it was just four short months ago when Ambassador Quinn introduced me down the road at my first World Food Prize symposium.
As I thought about this event today, it seems only fitting to me that the future home of the World Food Prize, the Borlaug Dialogue and other programs would be housed in this grand building we’re standing in today.
After all, a library is where people come to seek out information, advance their knowledge on a topic, and gain a greater understanding of the world around them. The beautiful stone and glass that make up a library like this one serve an important aesthetic and functional purpose to create a pleasing environment in which to house, collect and store information.
But beyond aesthetics and function, the really powerful piece and, I would say, a library’s higher purpose is the sharing of the information and the transfer of knowledge housed within the walls.
I believe that same higher purpose has come to this building again, as the building transforms itself into the future home of the World Food Prize. Connecting, sharing and transferring information and knowledge to collectively work on the challenges we face as a global ag community was and is an important part of Borlaug’s vision and that of the World Food Prize. That same vision and focus on the future is as important today, if not more so, than it was 60 years ago.
Our global ag community is at a unique time and place in history. Today, agriculture is at the intersection of many of the discussions that thought-leaders around the globe are discussing biofuels and agriculture, rising food prices and agriculture, environmental sustainability and agriculture, scarce water and agriculture, growing populations and hunger, and global warming and agriculture.
It’s forums like the Borlaug Dialogue that will continue making the connections, driving the thoughtful conversation and action that Dr. Borlaug started 60-plus years ago. It’s that same vision, the focus on the future, and the importance of sustaining and growing the ongoing dialogue on the important topic of world agriculture that bring me here today.
On behalf of the employees of Monsanto, we wanted to show our commitment to this ongoing transfer of knowledge, of information, of dialogue by pledging 5 million dollars in our support of the work of the World Food Prize and the Borlaug Dialogue.
We view this donation as an investment in the future that honors the past, that transcends the stone, glass and mortar that surrounds us today and helps to empower all of us as a global ag community to participate, connect, and partner with others to be a part of the solution to some of the formidable challenges facing agriculture today.
Thank you.
