Des Moines is about to host one of its biggest humanitarian gatherings of the year, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, actor Nick Offerman and actor Martin Sheen among the high-profile guests arriving for the World Food Prize's 40th anniversary. The three-day Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue runs Tuesday through Thursday, and this year the stakes feel especially local: more than 1,000 volunteers are set to attempt a Guinness World Record by packaging 600,000 hunger-relief meals in a single hour Tuesday evening.
A Three-Day Gathering With a Global Guest List
The event, scheduled for Oct. 20-22 at the Iowa Events Center, marks the 40th anniversary of the World Food Prize and carries the theme “Before Hunger Wins,” according to businessrecord.com. As reported by Axios, the dialogue is expected to draw more than 1,400 attendees from over 50 countries, a figure World Food Prize Foundation president Mashal Husain told the outlet reflects the scale of this year's anniversary gathering. Husain said she specifically wanted Malala Yousafzai to attend because of her advocacy for girls' education, explaining to Axios that educating a young girl changes her life's trajectory and future generations, with a direct link to hunger alleviation.
Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist for girls' education, will deliver the keynote address at the Borlaug Dialogue, according to kcci.com. Per Axios, she is scheduled to speak Wednesday morning. Martin Sheen, known for his roles on The West Wing and Grace & Frankie, is set to deliver Tuesday morning's keynote, titled “The World Found Its Norman Borlaug Once — Who Will Have the Courage to Become the Next?” according to Axios. Nick Offerman, who grew up on an Illinois farm, will speak about regenerative agriculture during Tuesday's panel “What If the Land Stops Giving?”, the outlet reports. Businessrecord.com adds that Muhammad Yunus, Princess Tatjana of Liechtenstein and Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah are also scheduled to attend, alongside a record 20 World Food Prize Laureates.
Volunteers Chase a 600,000-Meal Record
The centerpiece of Tuesday's events is an attempt to break the world record for most hunger-relief meals packaged in one hour, a title currently held at 530,064 meals, according to businessrecord.com. The World Food Prize Foundation, in partnership with Meals from the Heartland, plans to bring together more than 1,000 volunteers at the EMC Expo Center to package 600,000 meals, per the same outlet. That total would be enough to feed 2,307 children for an entire year, the site reports.
Half of the packaged meals will stay in Iowa for distribution to children, while Meals from the Heartland will send the other half abroad to eight countries, according to businessrecord.com. The effort builds on a smaller tradition: Des Moines previously packaged more than 20,000 meals for Iowa families at a World Food Prize Foundation event, per kcci.com, in what marked the 20th anniversary of that large-scale meal-packaging tradition.
Iowa's Hunger Numbers Loom Over the Dialogue
The celebration arrives as Iowa grapples with significant hunger at home. As of late July, 12.4% of Iowans and 17.8% of Iowa children face food insecurity, according to foodbankiowa.org, which puts the statewide total at 402,340 people, including 129,340 children, who don't know where they'll find their next meal. The food bank's data also shows Iowa's annual meal gap exceeds 76 million meals, with nearly $269 million needed to close it. In Polk County specifically, the food bank reports a 12% overall food insecurity rate affecting about 60,300 people, including 20,430 children. A separate figure cited by kcci.com, attributed to the World Food Prize Foundation, put the statewide total at more than 380,000 Iowans facing food insecurity, including over 120,000 children — a different count than the food bank's more recent tally.
Thursday's Award Honors a Dutch Food Safety Scientist
The week concludes Thursday with the Laureate Award Ceremony, honoring 2026 World Food Prize Laureate Huub Lelieveld, a Dutch scientist who will receive a $500,000 award for his work in food safety, according to businessrecord.com. Axios reports that Lelieveld's work improved food safety standards, helping prevent millions of foodborne illnesses worldwide. The prize, often called the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture, is awarded annually and carries a $500,000 purse, per Axios.
The award traces back to agronomist Norman Borlaug, who was working on a wheat research project in Mexico during the 1940s when he and his team developed disease-resistant, higher-yielding wheat with shorter, sturdier stalks, Axios reports. Those new varieties and improved farming practices helped Mexico produce enough wheat to meet its needs even as a parasitic fungus destroyed crops elsewhere, according to the outlet. Borlaug later brought his research to India and Pakistan in the 1960s, helping both countries increase food production, though Axios notes he also faced criticism over fertilizer dependence and the displacement of smaller-yield farmers. After unsuccessfully pushing for a Nobel Prize recognizing agricultural achievement, Borlaug established the World Food Prize himself in 1986 — the prize now marking its 40th anniversary with Des Moines once again at the center of the global conversation on ending hunger.
