After a yearlong, worldwide search for an artist to create a statue of the late Norman Borlaug for the U.S. Capitol, Gov. Terry Branstad yesterday announced that Benjamin Victor, a South Dakota artist, has been selected for the project.

“This is an important step in the historic process to place a statue of one of Iowa’s greatest heroes in America’s most hallowed building in our nation’s capital,” Branstad said during a press conference Tuesday.

The Iowa native is credited with saving 1 billion lives through his development of high-yielding hybrid wheat varieties in Mexico, Pakistan and India and later in Asia and Africa, earning him recognition as the father of the Green Revolution. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and was also a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, America’s highest civilian honor.

The statue is scheduled to be completed and installed in the Capitol on March 25, 2014, the 100th anniversary of Borlaug’s birth. It will replace the statute in the Capitol of Sen. James Harlan of Iowa.

Kenneth Quinn, chair of the Borlaug Statue Committee, said Victor was selected following a yearlong search that began with 65 artists who applied for the commission. Quinn and six other committee members reviewed materials submitted by each artist before making the selection.

To see a photo of the statue, click here.