Creation and History of the World Food Prize

Led by the vision of Norman Borlaug and founded by the General Foods Corp. in 1986, The World Food Prize, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the quality, quantity, or availability of the world’s food supply, moved to Iowa under the support of the Ruan Foundation in 1990.

By A.S. Clausi

The idea of a prize for agriculture originated with Norman Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who passed away at age 95 on Sept. 12, 2009. According to Borlaug, as honored as he was to be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, it bothered him that he was being given the Peace Prize rather than being recognized by an agriculture prize for his accomplishments as the father of the “Green Revolution.” As he often stated, it perturbed him that the only “window” through which he could pass to receive recognition was that of Peace since there was no prize in the Nobel honor roll for agriculture.

This matter concerned him to the extent that he went back to the Nobel secretariat and suggested that a prize be created for agriculture, only to be turned down. There is no provision in Nobel’s will for such a prize and the secretariat was reluctant to depart from that position. While they had in the past accepted one additional prize, the Economics Prize, which is sponsored by the Swedish banking system, they made it very clear to Borlaug that in their opinion this was not a wise decision. They were convinced that by allowing additional prizes they would open up the floodgates to an unmanageable number of prize possibilities.

Undaunted, Borlaug continued to advance his idea at every opportunity, seeking other sponsorship for the creation of such a prize. While he met with modest agreement to the idea of an agriculture prize, no one stepped forward and offered to sponsor it. During his travels, he met Carlton Smith, who had many important connections and who had been involved in the establishment of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture. Borlaug’s search for an agriculture prize sponsor interested Smith. He said he would see what he could do to put him in touch with some people who might sponsor such a prize. After at least one unsuccessful interview arranged by Smith and perhaps others, a date was set to meet with potential sponsor James Ferguson, CEO and Chairman of General Foods Corp., whom Smith had met in his many travels.

As Borlaug related the story, the meeting was set for the Monday following Memorial Day in 1985. He and Smith were to meet for dinner at a hotel in Westchester County, N.Y., and then have lunch with Ferguson the following day to discuss the possibility of prize sponsorship. Borlaug appeared at the hotel dining room only to find that Smith wasn’t there. In fact, he did not appear at all which greatly surprised Borlaug because in all previous meetings, Smith was a very punctual individual. Borlaug immediately called Smith’s residence only to hear from his housekeeper that Smith had died in his sleep the night before.

Saddened and completely befuddled as to what to do the next day since he had not previously met Ferguson, Borlaug nevertheless went ahead and met him for lunch and told the sad story of what had occurred. Borlaug recounted the encounter with Ferguson that noon, “We looked at each other, finished our drinks, and decided that given the turn of events it was no time to continue to discuss prize sponsorship, but agreed to meet in another month.”

At the second meeting which was held at the General Foods corporate headquarters in Rye Brook, N.Y., Borlaug brought along with him an old friend and long-time supporter of the idea of a prize, Robert Havener, who was at that time the Executive Director of Winrock International, a non-governmental organization carrying out agricultural research and development around the world. Meeting with Borlaug and Havener were Ferguson and Andrew Schroder, General Foods’ Vice President for Corporate Affairs. Both Ferguson and Schroder listened intently to the idea of a prize since it had been a stated corporate objective of General Foods to increase its public service contributions and they were looking for a big and meaningful project that they could embrace. They promised to give the proposal serious consideration and said that they would get back to Borlaug after they had a chance to discuss the matter internally with other members of corporate management.

At that time, I was Senior Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Research Officer Worldwide for General foods Corp. Since the idea of a prize presented by Borlaug and Havener was to honor individuals who had made outstanding contributions in research and development of world agriculture, Ferguson decided that I should be brought into the discussions. At an internal meeting with Ferguson and Schroder, they passed onto me what had transpired at their meeting with Borlaug and Havener and asked me if I would look into the matter and report back to them.

My first inclination was to think that there must be many prizes for agriculture. I was not particularly excited by the prospect of such a prize. Much to my surprise, after I and P.F. (Paul) Hopper, General Foods’ Director of Scientific Affairs, did a bit of due diligence searching, we found that while there were a few minor prizes that recognized specific achievements in agriculture there were none that recognized achievements in the much broader and all encompassing area of food.

So in my report back to Chairman Ferguson, I confirmed that this appeared to be a wide open area and a place where General Foods could establish a significant and unique role as sponsor of such a prize. I also strongly recommended that it not be limited to “agriculture” but rather it be a “food” prize that would recognize all elements in the food chain from growing it to putting it on the table of consumers. I also recommended that it be a global prize and that it be of significant dollar value comparable to Nobel. It also had to be completely apolitical, and open to anyone irrespective of nationality, race, religion, or any other limitation. I also made it clear that this had to be viewed as a long-term commitment by General Foods Corp. and proposed that the prize be called The General Foods World Food Prize.

In addition, our visit with the Pritzker Prize for Architecture group led to the understanding that the budgeting for such a prize would have to be a significant multiple of the Prize itself to cover costs of obtaining nominations, supporting the festivities surrounding the promotion and awarding of the Prize, and for appropriate staff to manage all these activities. At that time, the Nobel Prize was around $250,000, so we felt that to make it world class, the starting level of this Prize should be around $200,000, and calculated that the total cost for managing and awarding the Prize would be about 2.5–3 times that figure or about $500,000–$600,000 annually. In the interim, I had been in touch with Borlaug and Havener and met with them at least on one occasion to tell them we were favorably disposed toward the sponsorship of the Prize, but not an “agriculture” prize, rather a “food” prize that would recognize all the links in the food chain. This was quickly embraced by Borlaug as being an improvement in the concept of the Prize. I also made it clear to Borlaug that this all had to be approved by the General Foods Board of Directors as a program for the General Foods Fund, the non-profit contributing arm of the corporation.

I prepared a proposal along the lines outlined above and presented it to the Board with Ferguson’s approval and support. Since I was about one year away from my retirement as officer of the corporation, at age 65, it was understood by the Board that I would be retained as a consultant to manage the start-up and conduct The General Foods World Food Prize.

The Board approved the proposal and agreed that a budget of $500,000 annually would be established within the awards program of the General Foods Fund to cover the costs of the Prize and its operational needs. That was in addition to a part-time consulting contract with me for $100,000 per year. After Board approval, I met with Borlaug and Havener to begin organizing the management of the Prize under my leadership. Hopper joined the team of Borlaug, Havener, and I and we set about establishing The General Foods World Food Prize organization. One of the conditions for General Foods accepting sponsorship was my insistence that Winrock serve as the secretariat for the Prize. This was important because we wanted the sponsor, The General Foods Fund, to be at arm’s length from the actual correspondence and solicitations for the Prize to assure total objectivity and neutrality in selection. Winrock had an excellent reputation as an NGO in the area of world agricultural research and development and had extensive linkages with many other organizations so that the organization could well serve as secretariat. Havener had obtained approval for the project from his Board of Directors and agreed to take on the responsibility at cost and E.W. “Ted” Williams would provide part-time staff for the effort.

In the interim, I had all necessary legal papers drawn up for the Prize, contracts with Winrock for their involvement, and trademark filings on the names: The General Foods World Food Prize and The World Food Prize, so that the names could not be copied.

About this time (fall 1985), it was announced that the Phillip Morris Cos. had acquired General Foods Corp. through a stock purchase. Given this new development, I reminded Ferguson that the Prize had to be viewed as a long-term commitment, and as such, it should get the concurrence of our new owners, Phillip Morris. He agreed and asked me to make a presentation about the plan for the Prize to the Phillip Morris Board of Directors. Such a presentation was made to the Phillip Morris Board at its headquarters in New York City. The idea was greeted with enthusiasm by the members of the Phillip Morris Board who endorsed our plan to move ahead with the Prize organization.

Next, Hopper, Borlaug, Havener, Williams, and I began identifying the start-up needs for The General Foods World Food Prize. For instance, it was decided early on that we needed a Council of Advisors to be the policymakers and the governors of the Prize. They needed to be multidisciplinary and international in nature and leaders in the world of food to serve as the “Board of Directors” of the Prize. Various names were suggested and approached. The initial Council, chaired by me, consisted of Phillip Chigaru, Director of the Dept. of Agriculture Research in the Ministry of Agriculture, Zimbabwe, Africa; Richard Hall, V.P. of Research of the McCormick Co., a representative of the food processing industry; David Call, Dean of Life Sciences at Cornell Univ., a representative of academia; Pekka Linko, Chair of Food Science at Helsinki Univ. Finland, an international representative of food science and technology; Riccardo Bressani, Director of CIMMYT, an International Agricultural Research Institute in Mexico; along with Norman Borlaug and Robert Havener. As staff, Ted Williams of Winrock and Paul Hopper of General Foods were ad hoc members.

The announcement of The General Foods World Food Prize was made from the General Foods world headquarters in Rye Brook, N.Y., in May 1986. This was done at a gala reception attended by the media, General Foods officers, Borlaug, Havener, Council of Advisors, and special guests.

The announcement made it clear that this prize was to be an award to an individual (although in rare circumstances it could be given to a team of several individuals involved in the same work); an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the quality, quantity, or availability of the world’s food supply. And this could occur anywhere along the food chain from farm inputs to consumers’ tables and might represent any discipline—governmental, political, scientific, economic, marketing, etc.

A plan was established to award the first prize in fall 1987. Toward that end, a number of decisions were made. Early on it was decided by the Council of Advisors that although a $200,000 prize was very significant and world class, there was a need to identify the award with a commemorative of some sort that could be physically handed to the laureate and would stand as a symbol of the Prize. During a discussion on this matter with the public relations dept. at General Foods, it was suggested that I contact Saul Bass, renowned designer and artist, to develop such a commemorative for the Prize. Bass had done work for General Foods in the past, including the development of its new logo. When Hopper and I met with Bass, we asked him what he thought might be appropriate for such a prize. He said that he thought a plaque would be appropriate and that he would proceed to design one.

Although Hopper and I had both been warned that Bass needed freedom to design what he thought was appropriate and that we should not ask him to “build something for us”, we nevertheless did not feel that a plaque fit what we had in mind as a strong symbol of the Prize. Somehow we felt it should involve a bowl—something that one could cup in one’s hands as a symbol. Despite the cautions, we asked Bass to proceed with his ideas for a plaque, but asked that he also think about what might be done around the idea of a bowl as a symbolic starting point. Bass was kind enough to say he would consider both approaches and present us with one of each. Some months later when Bass presented his efforts, he showed us both a plaque and a bowl rendition. He added that of the two, he felt that the bowl rendition was the more artistic and symbolic. We agreed and were happy to make it our choice. It involved an earth-color base of slate on which rested an earth-color stone bowl in the center of which was a pewter globe out of which a section was cut with a leaf symbol. It was a handsome and artistic piece of sculpture. We rationalized that the globe symbolized the world; the leaf, its food; and, the bowl, the nourishment of its people.

Given the model sculpture produced by Saul Bass, arrangements were made for a local Connecticut sculptor, Derek Uhlman, to produce exact replicas for future awards. The cost of these handmade works was in the $1,000 per sculpture range.

A timetable was established for the first award and for the secretariat to request nominations by mail. Nominations would only be accepted from organizations, not from individuals. Several hundred international food and agricultural organizations, including private, governmental, and academic institutions were contacted. Requests for nominations went out in early fall 1986 with a December 31 deadline. The secretariat would gather, aggregate, and sort out the nominations in anticipation of the appointment of a Selection Committee by the Advisors.

The Selection Committee appointed by the Council of Advisors were a group of no less than five and no more than nine people with wide knowledge of world food and be multidisciplinary and international in character. They would remain anonymous, chaired by Norman Borlaug, the only publicly known member. It was planned that the Selection Committee would meet in March 1987 to make its recommendation for the first and second choice to the Council of Advisors, who would then carry out due diligence and with appropriate confirmation, approve the winner. The chairman of the Council of Advisors would contact the laureate-to-be, get his/her agreement and willingness to participate in an award ceremony in fall 1987, and make an acceptance address.

The Council initially chose as its venues, for the announcement and award ceremony, two different times and locations. It was decided that an announcement in June 1987 would be made to the world media in New York City. This would be a way of getting attention to the laureate selection. There would then be a period over the summer into the early fall for the planning of the award ceremony and events to take place in October. Since a very prestigious and highly visible venue for the award ceremony was desirable, contact was made with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to gauge their willingness to serve as the location for such an event. Paul Hopper, Ted Williams of Winrock, and I made contact with the Smithsonian Institution and arranged a meeting with Secretary Robert McCormick Adams.

The World Food Prize story was presented to Secretary Adams, who was very supportive of the idea of presenting it at the Smithsonian and of the plan to convene a conference on the day of the award to gather together thought leaders from around the world on a subject critical to world food. The idea of a conference and award ceremony “package” was the way the Council of Advisors believed the event would attract maximum attendance and attention. Plans were established to proceed with a symposium to be held the day of the award ceremony hosted by the Smithsonian, followed by the award ceremony in the Baird Auditorium in the National Museum of Natural History and then a grand reception would be held after the award ceremony for the laureate and invited guests in the rotunda of the museum. All of this would be funded by The General Foods World Food Prize with the Smithsonian being financed to organize the symposium. It was also planned to publish the symposium proceedings with The General Foods World Food Prize funds.

Separately, an events planner, Stephanie Knight of Knight Associates in Washington D.C., was hired to plan the award ceremony and to arrange for catering the reception afterwards. Careful budgeting had to be carried out to keep within the approximately $500,000 annual budget established for the Prize to cover not only the Prize, but the management of the Prize, Council of Advisors meeting, Selection Committee meetings, press announcement costs, Smithsonian conference costs, cost of the award ceremony and of the reception that followed, and the cost of the Winrock secretariat in soliciting and managing nominations and correspondence. It actually turned out to be a fairly tight budget, but we were able to operate within it.

The first year’s laureate was M.S. Swaminathan, widely heralded as the “father of the green revolution of India” that led India to become grain self-sufficient. Swaminathan was a noteworthy first choice, having already established wide recognition in world food and agricultural circles for his work in India and subsequently as Director of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. After being informed of the selection of Swaminathan by the Selection Committee and approved by the Council of Advisors, I had the honor of notifying Swaminathan. I recall it was a very strange feeling, very much like a celebrated TV personality of the time who traveled the world giving large sums of money to unsuspecting individuals. I called him from my home phone and felt a huge wave of pride and satisfaction as I informed him of his receiving a $200,000 prize for his outstanding contributions to world food. Although surprised and overwhelmed since my call was totally unexpected and that he was the first recipient of the Prize, he most happily accepted and we agreed to meet at Charles de Gaul Airport in France to get acquainted. It was a convenient meeting place since we both were passing through on business. After I met with Swaminathan and explained all the plans to him, arrangements proceeded for the announcement to be made at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in early June 1987, with a telephone linkage to Swaminathan in the Philippines.

Somewhat in its naïveté, the Council of Advisors expected a large turnout from the media, all of whom had been notified about the announcement of the first winner of The General Foods World Food Prize, which up until that time had been kept secret. The attendance at the Waldorf Astoria was modest, with perhaps 15 or 20 members of the media. No one from major metropolitan newspapers such as the New York Times was present. The announcement went well with Swaminathan greeting the group via telephone from the Philippines. Also in attendance at the announcement was the Charge d’ Affairs of India representing the Indian Ambassador to the United States who congratulated Swaminathan for receiving the Prize. It was also announced that there would be a grand conference, an award ceremony, and an address by Swaminathan in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian Institution in October.

In the interim between announcement and the award ceremony, the secretariat worked with me (Chairman of the Council of Advisors) to send out invitations to worldwide notables in food and agriculture to attend the conference and award ceremony. Plans were also drawn up with the events coordinator to have an outstanding award ceremony with appropriate entertainment, which included inviting John Denver, the popular singer and good friend of Dr. Swaminathan to attend and participate in the ceremony.

The award ceremony took place in the evening and lasted about one hour. As Chairman, I opened the ceremony. I then introduced Secretary Adams of the Smithsonian who welcomed the attendees. This was followed by a video of Swaminathan’s work, after which James Ferguson, Chairman of General Foods Corp., presented him with the commemorative sculpture. Swaminathan then delivered an acceptance speech, followed by congratulations from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng and P.K. Kaul, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Finally, John Denver sang several songs, one of which he wrote specifically for the award (It’s About Time).

A grand reception followed in the rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History (around the elephant) with music and foods from around the world. Guests were able to sample these foods prepared at “stands” around the rotunda and while they ate, they were also able to congratulate Swaminathan, his wife, and family who formed a reception line.

Afterward, the laureate and his family, Council of Advisors, and special program guests such as John Denver, were invited to an intimate dinner at a restaurant in Georgetown (The Georgetown Club) at which time I presented the laureate with the check for $200,000.

The first year’s symposium was on the subject of “Science, Ethics, and Food.” The keynote speaker was William J. Byron, President of the Catholic University of America. There were many notable speakers at the symposium and a book covering the proceedings was published by the Smithsonian. The symposium prompted a special article by Secretary Adams in Smithsonian magazine in January 1988, complimenting the concept of the Prize and in particular the convening of the colloquium on Science, Ethics, and Food. He wrote a second article in Smithsonian magazine the following month extolling the benefits that awards have in encouraging science. The day following the award ceremony, by special invitation, a subgroup of those who participated in the colloquium, were invited to a workshop chaired by Swaminathan to arrive at some recommendations and conclusions. These are also covered in the publication issued by the Smithsonian Institution titled “Science, Ethics, and Food.” Swaminathan was also honored in Washington, D.C., by Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng in the rotunda of the Agriculture Building as well as by a special dinner hosted by Ambassador Kaul of India.

Following the first successful announcement and presentation of The General Foods World Food Prize to Swaminathan, the Council of Advisors met to review what went well, what needed modification, and what might be added. It was concluded that the New York City announcement followed by the change of venue and the award in Washington, D.C., was not a good idea. While the schedule of making the announcement in the spring and then following with an award ceremony in the fall was a good one because it allowed planning time for the fall events, doing it from two locations was confusing and unnecessary. It was decided that both the announcement and award should take place in Washington, D.C. Secondly, since Phillip Chigaru had not been able to attend any Council of Advisors meetings, it was decided he should be contacted and released from his responsibility on the Council and we should appoint another individual representing Africa. This was done by appointing Thomas Odhiambo, Director of the Insect Research Institute in Kenya. Thirdly, it was decided that the small, although very creative, public relations (PR) firm that we were working with in Little Rock, Ark., was too local for our purposes. We decided to appoint a new PR firm, the Edelman Co., which was, at the time, the largest private PR firm in the U.S. Edelman had important media contacts worldwide and an office in Washington, D.C. It was our hope and expectation that they would be more helpful in getting the kind of worldwide media attention the Prize deserved. This need was further shown by a survey carried out with our mailing list by the University of Central Arkansas in December 1987. While the general perception of the Prize and its goals were favorably received, the awareness level among and within the potential nominating organizations contacted was very low.

The Council agreed that the Smithsonian venue for the colloquium, award ceremony, and reception was fine and should continue. In general, we were all very pleased with the first year turnout. Several hundred people attended the conference and an overflow crowd of about a thousand people attended the ceremony and reception. We did recognize that the presence of John Denver may have had a lot to do with that. We were not pleased with the media coverage which, again, was modest except for excellent coverage in India and in the Philippines. We decided that more effort was needed and a full-time major PR firm should help in this regard. Among some of the new initiatives attempted were a series of full page “advertorials” in an international Newsweek-type magazine that has since ceased publication.

In the meantime, invitations to nominate were sent out for the second laureate. In March 1988, the Selection Committee informed the Council of Advisors that Robert F. Chandler, the founding Director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, was their first choice. With the Council of Advisors concurrence, Chandler was notified of his award of the Prize, which he accepted. Chandler’s selection was based on his leadership in creating an effective IRRI, which did much to improve the world’s rice gene bank, but also because of his leadership role in the establishment of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), which now numbers more than a dozen research institutions covering different areas of agriculture located in many countries around the world.

The format for the announcement and award ceremony for Chandler was different than the first laureate in that the June announcement was made in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club. In attendance was the laureate, Borlaug, and Emmanuel N. Pelaez, Ambassador of the Philippines to the U.S. The October award ceremonies were in Washington, D.C., following more or less the same format as had been arranged for Swaminathan, including a reception for Chandler at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture on Monday preceding the award day. Speaking at the award ceremony was USDA Secretary Lyng; Robert S. Hoffman, Assistant Secretary for Research of the Smithsonian Institution; and the Honorable Bradford Morse, former Director of the United Nations Development Program, all of whom offered congratulations. The award commemorative was again presented by James Ferguson, Chairman of General Foods Corp., and this was followed by an acceptance speech by Chandler and a tribute to him by the Ambassador Pelaez, who was joined by a group of Filipino-American performers who performed traditional native dances in honor of Chandler.

Following the award ceremony, there was a gala reception with food and music from around the world in the rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History. Guests were able to greet Chandler in a receiving line while they enjoyed the food, music, and museum exhibits. Afterward, a private dinner was held for Chandler, his wife, and family at the Georgetown Club restaurant where the Prize check was presented by me as Chairman of the Council of Advisors.

The 1988 award conference held at the Smithsonian focused on the subject of “Completing the Food Chain: Strategies for Combating Hunger and Malnutrition” and a publication was subsequently made of the conference proceedings, which is now in the archives. On Wednesday morning following the award ceremony and reception, there was a follow-up meeting at IFPRI, the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., of a select group from the Council of Advisors and guests to talk about resolution of conference issues.

While this second award ceremony was equally festive, enjoyable, and reasonably well attended by some 500–700 people, there was still general dissatisfaction on the part of the Council of Advisors with respect to the amount of media coverage that we received outside of the immediate Washington beltway area and in the Philippines. As Chairman, I suggested that Williams and I arrange a visit to the secretariat of the Nobel Prize to get their advice and counsel.

Such a trip was arranged and meetings were held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway. In Stockholm where the secretariat's office is located, we met with Stig Ramel, Executive Director of the Nobel Prize organization. We were most graciously hosted by Ramel who shared a number of insights with us including the very important reality that it took the Nobel Prize many, many years before it was recognized as a major event by the mass media. In fact, while the Nobel Prize had been established in 1898, Ramel said in his view, it wasn't until after World War II that the Nobel Prize really achieved recognition outside of a very limited circle of followers. His advice to us was that we were on the right track and that we should continue holding the course we selected and not confuse the Prize’s purpose with other goals or alliances. And, if we maintain high quality in our laureates, the visibility of the Prize will grow over time, but it would take quite a while. He also informed us that the Nobel Foundation was blessed with an overabundance of cash thanks to many very successful investments they had made in real estate and that the Nobel Prize was going to be growing dramatically in dollar value over the next 10 years, reaching approximately the $1 million range. We also met in Oslo, Norway, where the Peace Prize is awarded, with Dr. Jacob Sverdrup, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who shared with us details on the workings of the Nobel Peace Prize procedures.

Essentially following the same pattern as was followed for Chandler’s nomination and award, the third laureate was picked by the Selection Committee in March 1989. The Committee originally recommended a team of individuals who did not work together on the same project and there was only a very indirect connection in terms of their individual accomplishments. The Council of Advisors exercised its responsibility with respect to the Selection Committee’s recommendation for first choice and rejected it as being inconsistent with the selection criteria for an individual or team and asked that the second choice be moved up to first place. That choice was Engineer Verghese Kurien. The 1989 General Foods World Food Prize laureate was Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board of Anand, India. As founder of India’s “Operation Flood”, Kurien turned the milk sheds of India into cooperatives that produce, process, and market milk in the urban centers of the country. More than six million individual dairy producers in 50,000 cooperatives were marketing milk in 500 cities and towns throughout India in 1989. The success of Operation Flood led to adaptation of the same concepts to other commodities, including fruits, vegetables, and oilseeds.

When first recommended by the Selection Committee to the Council of Advisors, it was pointed out that Kurien was somewhat of a “controversial figure.” This led to a rather intensive due diligence search on the part of the Council to make sure that there were no inappropriate background elements to Kurien’s accomplishment that would be inconsistent with the Prize’s goal, quality, integrity, or objectives. It was determined that because of his creative and relatively unorthodox approaches to solving India’s milk problem, he had generated a number of naysayers and even enemies. However, the quality of his achievement was outstanding and there was no question about the integrity of his purpose and/or his work. The June 1989 announcement in Washington, D.C., and the award ceremony colloquium in the fall were comparable to those followed by Chandler. The announcement from the National Press Club was carried out simultaneously in Washington, D.C., and in Anand, India, via closed-circuit television.

There was one change in plans for the October events in that The World Food Prize was approached by the World Food Day Committee located in Washington, D.C., to dovetail activities so that Kurien could participate in some of their closed-circuit activities taking place via satellite around the world on World food Day (October 12th). Timing of the World Food Day in 1989 was such that this could be accommodated without really changing the planning of The World Food Prize events at the beginning of the week, which then was followed by Kurien participating in World Food Day events in the later part of the week.

Kurien was honored by a request from President George H. Bush to visit the White House and be recognized for his outstanding work. Prior to that time, the previous two laureates had both been recognized by the President of the United States by mail, but this was the first invitation to visit the White House.

Following the one experience with Kurien, further alliances with the World Food Day organizers were decided against by the Council of Advisors for several reasons. First of all, they required financial contributions from us which we felt were inappropriate since the money was needed for the Prize award activities. Secondly, their scheduling varied from year to year and forced us to tie ourselves to their programming which caused us to lose control over our own timing and flexibility. Thirdly, we really didn’t see that much gained either from a publicity standpoint or from a Prize image standpoint, so we decided that we would maintain an arm’s length relationship with the World Food Day activities in the future. It did remind us of Stig Ramel's advice of avoiding “alliances.”

Following the Kurien award, the Council of Advisors moved to seven members when Richard Hall, who had retired from McCormick Co., left the Council. The plan was to replace Hall with another member of the food processing industry. However, before that came about in the winter 1989, disturbing news came to me from Mike Miles, the new Chairman of Kraft General Foods. This new business entity was the result of parent company Phillip Morris acquiring Kraft Foods and combining it with General Foods. The news was that he no longer wanted to sponsor the Prize and that it should be immediately terminated. At this juncture, requests for invitation for nomination for the 1990 award year had already gone out, nominations had already been received, and the secretariat was organizing matters for the Selection Committee to pick the 1990 laureate.

Despite entreaties from me as Chairman of the Council of Advisors and others that this would be the last year of support from Kraft General Foods and we would find new sponsors for the Prize for 1991 and beyond, the management of Kraft General Foods was insistent that matters be terminated immediately. Further entreaties from a personal visit by Havener and Borlaug to Miles resulted in no progress toward continuation of sponsorship of the Prize. Letters were also sent to Miles and Hamish Maxwell, Chairman of Phillip Morris from a number of people including Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa and Secretary Adams of the Smithsonian. Things looked pretty bleak for the Prize at that juncture.

As a consultant, I felt completely free to disagree with the management of Kraft General Foods and to explore other possibilities for Prize sponsorship. However, time was of the essence and being in midstream, there needed to be some immediate commitment or everything would end. To that point, I remembered that Phillip Morris management and its Board of Directors had agreed to the Prize when it was initiated and had agreed that this had to be viewed as a long-term commitment. A meeting was arranged with Maxwell to ask for support. Maxwell listened to my appeal and understood the need to keep the Prize going rather than ending it abruptly in midstream. He offered a proposition, stating that Phillip Morris Companies would provide half of the Prize money support, which was roughly $300,000 if the Prize management would find the remaining half. I agreed to the deal and with Borlaug, Havener, Hopper, Williams, and all of the members of the Council, we began identifying other potentially permanent, or at least one-time, sponsors for the Prize year 1990. To this end, a number of industrial contributors responded. They included International Minerals Corp., International Life Sciences Institute, McCormick Co., RJR Nabisco, Elanco, and other anonymous gifts totaling $285,000. It was a very slow and difficult process with some contributions as small as $5,000. But the moneys were eventually obtained and Phillip Morris kept its promise for matching money and so the 1990 Prize was assured. This was all done by pledge or by commitment before the announcement of the 1990 winner.

While the program proceeded for the selection of the 1990 laureate, a plan was laid out for seeking a new home for the Prize. The plan was to cut costs to the bone while seeking matching funds for 1990. At the same time, I and all others connected with the Prize were also scrambling to find permanent sponsorship for the Prize into the future knowing that this was the last contribution from Phillip Morris Cos. Many visits were made to private foundations, individuals, chambers of commerce, etc., without much in the way of success. Furthermore, the prospects of each year gathering contributions from a variety of sources as had to be done in 1990 was not a very attractive choice, nor was it really practical on a sustained basis. In a manner of speaking, Borlaug’s early frustrations in finding sponsorship were being repeated.

During this frustration and while we were seeking help for 1990 and beyond, I had occasion to share our problems with Jane Brody, a featured nutrition columnist for the New York Times. While she was sympathetic to our plight, this was not an area she could help us with. She referred me to Keith Schneider, the New York Times Washington, D.C., correspondent, who focused on food and agriculture issues. We had a lengthy phone interview about our perilous situation, while assuring me that there would be no direct attribution to me, which I had requested, less the issue might be seen as self-serving.

Then a very interesting thing happened. The New York Times, which prior to that time, had given very little attention to the good news of the Prize or of its laureates, printed Keith Schneider’s report that Phillip Morris Cos. was going to stop sponsorship of The World Food Prize. It was a rather pointed criticism of Phillip Morris Cos. and its insensitivity to such a noble cause and to world food issues that occupied two columns by about four inches deep on a prominent page of the daily newspaper on December 15, 1989. Unfortunately, it was aimed at Phillip Morris Cos. when actually it was not Phillip Morris but Kraft Foods and Mr. Miles who should have been criticized by the article.

Be that as it may, having entered the wire services, the article was picked up by the Des Moines Register newspaper, which then followed with a Sunday editorial on December 24, 1989, that in effect said “why don't we, the people of Iowa, the breadbasket of the world, rescue this Prize just as the King of Sweden rescued the Nobel Prize when Nobel’s family upon his death wanted to renege on his will.” It was a beautifully worded call-to-arms. This, no doubt, was noted by a number of people in Iowa as well as those in the Iowa state legislature, including State Senator Szymoniak, who echoed the appeal of the Des Moines Register on the state legislature floor.

What followed was that I, as Chairman of the Prize, and Norman Borlaug, a native son of Iowa, were invited to come to speak to interested parties in Des Moines by the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. Borlaug, Williams, and I made the trip. I was the spokesperson for the group and made a presentation on the Prize, its purpose, its accomplishments, its goals, and what the needs were including the moneys to run it. A number of Iowa industrial representatives came forward afterward and said that they would be reviewing the matter with their Boards of Directors, that there was genuine interest in the award, and that they would be getting back to me.

One individual, John Ruan asked that I meet with him the following day in his offices of Ruan Cos. in Des Moines. Williams and I met with Ruan and we discussed the history of the Prize, what its needs were, and what its future prospects might be. This apparently struck a very resonant chord in Ruan since he had been thinking of something like this to bring focus and attention to Iowa and particularly to Des Moines as the epicenter for world food and world food issues. His imaginative and creative thoughts went beyond the Prize to subjects such as Des Moines becoming the world food trade center and a meeting place for thought leaders throughout the world to discuss food and food issues, and so on. Our meeting concluded with his very strong statement of interest, saying he would like to finalize his thoughts with some of his associates and asked for some additional information such as what would have to be transferred from General Foods, what kinds of copyrights existed, and so forth. Arrangements were made for a follow-up meeting.

By this time, the Selection Committee had picked John Niederhauser as the 1990 laureate, and plans were proceeding for the announcement and awards venue to take place in Washington, D.C., as had been done in the past. We invited Ruan and other new-found friends in Iowa to participate. Before the announcement, however, Ruan invited us to Iowa and, in particular, asked Borlaug if he would speak at to a joint session of the Houses of the Iowa State Legislature. I brought the additional information about the Prize requested by Ruan. Borlaug spoke to the legislators and at the conclusion of our visit Ruan told us that the Ruan Foundation would assume the financial responsibility and support for the Prize, following the Niederhauser award. The Ruan Foundation also contributed $50,000 to the 1990 activities. Shortly thereafter, we worked out an arrangement whereby the announcement of the 1990 laureate would be made in Iowa, not in Washington, D.C., concurrent with a public announcement of Ruan’s assumption of sponsorship of the Prize. This was done on June 18, 1990, at the Downtown Marriott in Des Moines and was attended by Governor Terry Branstad and many Iowa notables.

The announcement identified John Niederhauser as the 1990 laureate. Niederhauser was to receive what now would be called The World Food Prize (dropping the “General Foods” name for the first time). His selection was for his innovative leadership in advancing the production and consumption of potatoes, which rank fourth among the world’s staple foods along with wheat, rice, and maize. During his 40 years in international agriculture, he became known throughout the world as “Mr. Potato” because of his many contributions as a planner, catalyst, cooperator, and participant in potato development programs. His major contribution was determining the cause of the potato late blight problem, which knowledge was then used to breed resistant varieties all over the world.

Like the previous laureates, the award ceremony was held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in October 1990. However, this was the last time for this venue, since it was agreed that future awards would be given in Des Moines, Iowa, by the new World Food Prize Foundation established by John Ruan.

This ended the period of the Prize under my leadership as Chairman of the Council of Advisors and Executive Director. John Ruan became the new Chairman and Herman Kilpper became the Executive Director. Ruan asked me to stay on as a member of the Council of Advisors as he assumed the Chair. Havener and the other members of the Council were also asked to stay on in support of the Prize’s future, which we were all delighted to do. At the announcement in Des Moines on June 1990, I was asked to say a few words. It was within a year or so of the appearance of a very popular movie about baseball called “Field of Dreams” which was supposed to have taken place in Iowa. Deeply moved by the generosity, warmth, and open arm assumption of Prize sponsorship by the Ruan Foundation, I said I truly understood the meaning of a then popular expression derived from the movie, “Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa.”

Since that day, working with Ruan, Kilpper, and John Ruan III has been a delight for me and a blessing for The World Food Prize. After initially endowing the Prize with several million dollars, plus contributions annually from the state of Iowa, 19 awards have been made by The World Food Prize Foundation starting with Nevin Scrimshaw in 1991, Edward F. Knipling and Raymond Bushland in 1992, He Kang in 1993, Muhammad Yunus in 1994, Hans Herren in 1995, Henry Beachell and Gurdev Khush in 1996, Ray F. Smith and Perry Adkisson in 1997, B.R. Barwale in 1998, Walter Plowright in 1999, Evangelina Villegas and Surinder Vasal in 2000, Per Pinstrup Andersen in 2001, Pedro A. Sanchez in 2002, Catherine Bertini in 2003, Yuan Longping and Monty Jones in 2004, Modadugu Gupta in 2005, Edson Lobato, A. Colin McClung, and Alysson Paolinelli in 2006, Philip E. Nelson in 2007, U.S. Senators Robert Dole and George McGovern in 2008, and Gebisa Ejeta in 2009.

In 1996, the 10th anniversary of the Prize was celebrated and John Denver returned to perform, having been at the first award in 1987. It was joyous visit by him and a very outstanding celebration. Tragically, he lost his life in an accident the following year. In 1997, Ruan further endowed the Prize with $10 million, which assures its perpetuity. For me, the advice of Stig Ramel of the Nobel Foundation keeps coming back, “Stay true to your mission, be independent and single-minded, select quality laureates, and the world will eventually recognize you.” As we say for our laureates, “By their fruits the world shall know them.” So shall the world know us by our laureates.

A.S. Clausi (AClausi2@aol.com), IFT President 1993-94, was Chairman of the Council of Advisors and Executive Director of The Word Food Prize from 1985–90. He currently serves as a member of the Council of Advisors of The World Food Prize.