CRESCO -- Several special events Oct. 16 will honor Norman Borlaug for his recent award, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Borlaug will fly into the Cresco Airport that day and is expected to travel to his boyhood farm about 12 miles southwest of the city. A delegation of officials with the Sasakawa Global 2000 African Association will also tour the farm at 5 p.m.

The Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation owns and manages the farm.

Borlaug, an agronomist credited with helping launch the Green Revolution, has worked for decades to end world hunger. He was honored with the medal this summer by President George Bush.

Borlaug is one of only five people awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. The others are Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Sasakawa Global 2000 delegation will travel from Des Moines to Mason City. The group will tour the Golden Grain ethanol plant earlier in the day. Afterward, delegation members will visit John and Kay Reis' farm between Cresco and Lime Springs and then go on to Borlaug's farm.

"They really want to see where Dr. Borlaug was raised," said Jack Thomson of Cresco, treasurer of heritage foundation.

"I think they will be surprised when they see his tiny bedroom and the very modest home where he and his two sisters were raised. It is pretty humble beginnings," he added.

Borlaug will attend a banquet in his honor at The Mint in Protivin. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The banquet falls on what several years ago was designated as Norman Borlaug Day in Iowa. He and the Sasakawa delegation are in Iowa to attend the World Food Prize awards, which Borlaug established. Those events will be Oct. 17-20 in Des Moines.

Tickets to the banquet are on sale at CUS Bank in Cresco, Lime Springs, Ridgeway, Osage and Charles City. Cost is $50 with half of the price tax deductible. Deadline to buy is Thursday.

Borlaug will give the keynote address.

Contact Deb Nicklay at deb.nicklay@globegazette.com.