Pedro A. Sanchez could have been an Iowan, with his passion for crops and the soil in which they grow.

Sanchez was presented the World Food Prize last night at Stephens Auditorium.

Gov. Tom Vilsack; John Ruan III; Norman Borlaug, founder of the World Food Prize; and ISU President Gregory Geoffroy presented Sanchez the prize after performances by the Iowa State Symphony and Ray Charles.

Charles was announced as “a great musical hero honoring a world hero” before he sang “America the Beautiful.” As he sang, pictures of past World Food prize winners and their work flashed on a screen behind him. The audience joined him in singing the final verse.

A symphonic piece commissioned by the World Food Prize and performed by the Des Moines Symphony, “Symphony of the Prairie,” provided the background for more pictures of the crops scattered across Iowa.

Sanchez has worked extensively in Africa, changing deprived soil into nutrient rich soil, feeding millions in Africa and saving rainforests from being cut down in an effort to create slash and burn farmland.

Gov. Vilsack congratulated Sanchez for “saving countless lives.” He also read an official proclamation, declaring Sanchez winner of the World Food Prize.

Geoffroy also extended his congratulations to Sanchez for his “many contributions to feeding our world.”

“Agriculture and food science are cornerstones of Iowa State University,” Geoffroy said. “ISU is proud to be partner in the recognition of [an] outstanding global contribution.”

Other awards were given to contributors and students of world agriculture.

Norman Borlaug was presented with the Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace.

Former Rotary International President Richard D. King said Borlaug was a “son of Iowa” that had a “passion for uplifting those most poor.”

High school students from across Iowa and the nation were recognized as participants of the World Food Prize Youth Institute.

Each spoke of their experiences as a result of attending the institute and often traveling abroad in World Food Prize International Internships.

Gary Sullivan, junior in animal science, won the Roberta Ahmanson Internship Award.

“[It] gave you a sense of what worldwide agriculture is like,” he said of his experiences in Ethiopia.

Michael Gardner presented Jacquelyn Johnson the John Chrystal Award.

He read part of a letter from Mikhail Gorbachev, congratulating Johnson on her award and instructing her to continue carrying the torch of agriculture in developing nations.

Johnson said she did not have the words to thank the World Food prize but would instead challenge all youth in the audience.

“Look beyond yourself and your worlds; you’ll be amazed at what you see. I was,” she said.

Sanchez intends to use the prize to set up the Sanchez Tropical Agriculture Fund, a fund for farmers and scientists in tropic countries.

He declined to accept the award for himself only, but instead accepted it in the name of all scientists and farmers in Africa and other tropic nations.