National Agriculture Day celebrations in Washington DC this year just happen to fall on March 25, the centennial anniversary date of the Father of the Green Revolution. As a fitting tribute, the State of Iowa will install a bronze statue of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol on that very day.

“The unveiling with be a historic event and celebration of Dr. Borlaug’s legacy,” Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said. “His agricultural innovations saved an estimated billion people around the world from hunger and starvation.”

Each state is represented by two statues of notable citizens in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol Building. The statue of Borlaug will replace the statue of U.S. Senator James Harlan installed in 1910, which will be relocated to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The second statue representing Iowa is of Governor Samuel Kirkwood, which was installed in 1913.

More information about the statue project is available at www.iowaborlaugstatue.org, including information about related events and activities. People are also encouraged to watch a webcast of the statue unveiling ceremony, which will take place on March 25 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, at www.speaker.gov/live and since Chuck and Cindy will be there at the Capitol for National Ag Day, we should have coverage of the event featured here on AgWired as well.

The statue was unveiled at the World Food Prize in October, where we had the chance to see it up close and personal, and Cindy interviewed World Food Prize president Ambassador Kenneth Quinn about it. Listen to or download his comments about the statue here: WFP President Kenneth Quinn talks about Borlaug statue