.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Iowa’s three former governors joined with Gov. Chet Culver and a banquet hall filled with hunger relief advocates and workers to honor Norman Borlaug today.

“It may be World Food Day in the rest of the world, but here in Iowa it’s also Norman Borlaug Day,” said Ken Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, prior to Culver signing the official proclamation. Borlaug, founder of the World Food Prize, led the Green Revolution that has been credited with saving 1 billion people from starvation worldwide

About 400 people gathered at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown for the inaugural Iowa Hunger Summit, organized by the World Food Prize Foundation to recognize the efforts of Iowa organizations toward relieving hunger both within the state and throughout the world. The event, which is intended to become an annual observance, is also meant to increase awareness of the continuing need to address hunger and poverty worldwide.

In the past year, Iowans have contributed more than $6.24 million, along with 15.3 million pounds of food and 65,000 volunteer hours to combat hunger both within the state and abroad, according to statistics gathered by the foundation.

The event’s keynote speaker, David Beckmann, president of the Alliance to End Hunger and Bread for the World, said he’s encouraged by the progress that has been made globally in the past 30 years to address hunger. The portion of the world’s population that is undernourished, for instance, has dropped from two-fifths to one-sixth, he said, and the number living on less than $1 worth of food per day has been reduced from 1.5 billion to less than 1 billion.

However, “in our country, scandalously, hunger has increased,” he said. For instance, 225,000 Iowans are enrolled in the federal Food Assistance Program, but based on electronic data that’s tracked, many families run out of food by the third week of the month, Beckmann said.

Repeating the toll-free number to the U.S. Capitol several times during his speech, Beckmann called on participants to telephone the offices of Iowa’s senators, Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley, to push for provisions in the 2008 farm bill that would reduce agricultural subsidy payments and increase the amounts going toward the Food Assistance Program.