The World Food Prize officially set a new record in the Guinness Book of World Records by packing over 600,000 meals in one hour. Guests include Governor Tom Vilsack, who is now CEO of The World Food Prize, Thomas Bradford, Adjudicator for Guinness Book of World Records, Iowa State Senator Renee Hardman, Des Moines, Iowa Mayor Connie Boesen and Brooks Reynolds, founder of Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest and JR’s SouthPork Ranch.
Organizers brought together roughly 1,300 volunteers to break a record that has stood since 2013. Half the meals (300,000) were destined for Iowa and the Midwest; the other half go to countries struggling with hunger. The effort was framed as a concrete demonstration of the World Food Prize’s mission of “food security for all,” extending Norman Borlaug’s original vision.
Governor Tom Vilsack (CEO of the World Food Prize)
Vilsack emphasized local hunger alongside global need:
“One out of eight Iowa adults [are] food insecure. One out of six of our children, food insecure. That’s 385,000 of our Iowans, 120,000 of our children. One out of seven Americans are food insecure, and one out of four people in the world [are] food insecure.”
He described the split of meals and the broad coalition of sponsors that funded them, including Hy-Line, Pioneer, Growth Energy, NCMIC, JBS, Tenmark, Niman Ranch, Perdue Farms, Chobani, Cargill, WholeGanics, the Kraus and Lorenzen-Sand families, Dr. Steven Neese, and Meals for the Heartland. He called the volunteer turnout “pure Iowa” and stressed the uniqueness of the World Food Prize itself:
“The World Food Prize is only awarded in one place in the world at one time… The third week in October in Iowa… It’s the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture. We have it. We are the home to it.”
He noted participants from 50 countries were in Des Moines for the Borlaug Dialogue.
Thomas Bradford (Guinness World Records Adjudicator)
Bradford explained he was on site with a team of trained volunteer counters to verify every box under official rules. He confirmed the prior record dated to 2013 and that no successful attempt had been recognized in the intervening years. On the difficulty of such records he said:
He indicated organizers hoped for a same-day result and that, across the attempts he has adjudicated, roughly 70% succeed. He described Guinness’s approach as relatively open and focused on fun while still enforcing the rules.
Brooks Reynolds (Founder, Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest / JR’s SouthPork Ranch)
A longtime supporter whose family and company (Reynolds and Reynolds) had ties to the Ruan family and the World Food Prize, Reynolds called the prize “kind of like the Nobel Prize for food.” He noted that laureates receive support to continue research and advocacy, and he highlighted the global issues (water, soil health, crop diversity) discussed at the Borlaug Dialogue, which he was attending for the eighth time.
Mayor Connie Boesen (Des Moines)
Boesen called the World Food Prize “a great asset for Des Moines” and compared it to “the Nobel Peace Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, for agriculture.” She praised Norman Borlaug’s impact (“the billions of people he has saved”) and the organization’s scope, noting its origins with the Ruan family. She had participated in a practice run (19 boxes) and was packing with the volunteers.
Iowa State Senator Renee Hardman
Hardman said she joined after outreach from executive director Marcelle and described herself as “all in for feeding the world.” Beyond the record attempt, she hoped the event would inspire ongoing action:
“I hope that this inspires others to recognize and understand the greater need to help feed the world, also here in Iowa.”
The event combined a high-visibility Guinness World Records attempt with a deliberate message that the World Food Prize is both a global institution headquartered in Iowa and a practical response to hunger inside the state. The interviews consistently highlighted volunteer energy, corporate and family sponsorship, the 50/50 Iowa-overseas meal split, and the desire to make more Iowans aware of the organization’s local programs and its status as the “Nobel Prize” of food and agriculture. The transcript captures the packing as it was underway; it does not include a final official count or confirmation that the record was broken.
Transcript of the interviews
This transcript was created with help from Ai. Please report errors to us and always refer to the video as your primary source.
Justin Brady: [00:00:00] So we’re here with Governor Tom Vilsack, and we’re just starting right now There we go. So all the chaos, everyone’s packing. How many meals are we at?
Gov. Tom Vilsack: 600,000 meals.
Justin Brady: 600,000 meals in one hour. It just started. And of course, Governor Tom Vilsack, Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack is now CEO of the World Food Prize.
And how did you set this whole thing up? This is crazy.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: Well, look, we wanna make sure that people understand that we have hunger here in Iowa.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: And we have hunger in the United States and all over the world. Some statistics for, for your viewers. Number one, one out of eight Iowa adults, food insecure.
One out of six of our children, food insecure. That’s 385,000 of our Iowans, 120,000 of our children. One out of seven Americans are food insecure, and one out of four people in the world, food insecure. What this is [00:01:00] about, 600,000 meals to begin the process of whittling that number down. This is gonna be 300,000 meals for Iowa and the Midwest.
300,000 meals will go overseas. And it’s all about the mission of the World Food Prize, which is ultimately food security for all. We’re gonna help that tonight.
Justin Brady: I think a lot of people don’t understand that, ’cause they think World Food Prize, they naturally assume this is going overseas somewhere. And you mentioned a lot of it’s right here within the state?
Gov. Tom Vilsack: Right here. Every single county, regardless of the wealth of the particular county in the state of Iowa, every single county in the United States has food insecure and hungry people. And we need to do something about that. One way we can do that is by volunteering our time and our effort. You know, I’d be remiss if I didn’t s- talk about some of the companies that have made this possible.
Justin Brady: Please. Please do.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: Uh, you have to raise the resources to pay for the meals.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: So this is, what’s interesting about this is the, the breadth of companies that got involved. So you got Hy-Line, which [00:02:00] is a, a, a hatchery, all right? Uh, Pioneer, started by Henry Wallace, uh, an extension of that. So that’s an ag company.
Then you got Growth Energy. Well, that’s a renewable fuel company. Pretty interesting they’re involved.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: Then you got, uh, NICMIC, N-C-M-I-C, which is an insurance company that insures chiropractors.
Justin Brady: Huh.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: They’re involved in this.
Justin Brady: Wow.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: JBS, the largest protein, uh, production processing company in the world, they’re involved in this.
Tenmark, the security guys-
Justin Brady: Yeah, yeah …
Gov. Tom Vilsack: they’re involved in this. Niman Ranch and Perdue Farms, they’re providing some assistance. Um, Chobani, a yogurt. Wow. And Cargill, and a company called WholeGanics, which is involved in biologicals. So a wide range of- Wow … ag and other companies, and a number of, uh, key, uh, critical families here, the Kraus family, Lorenzen-Sand family, uh, Dr.
Steven Neese. Basically all of those people donated their resources to make this happen. And then Meals for the Heartland-
Justin Brady: [00:03:00] Yep …
Gov. Tom Vilsack: great organization. They’re all about this every single day But of course, it’s the 1,300 people behind us-
Justin Brady: Yeah …
Gov. Tom Vilsack: that are doing the work, that are gonna make the difference. And if this isn’t pure Iowa, I don’t know what is.
Justin Brady: I could not believe that you filled this hall. What is the, I guess, the final remark or the one thing Iowans need to know about the World Food Prize that they rarely know?
Gov. Tom Vilsack: Well, I don’t think they understand or appreciate the uniqueness of what we have here. Uh, the World Food Prize is only awarded in one place in the world at one time.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: The third week in October- Mm … in Iowa. Uh, it’s something we can be extraordinarily proud of. It’s the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture. We have it. We, we are the home to it. This is just an extension of, uh, of the vision that Norman Borlaug had o- of food security for all. And this is our work for the last 40 years the prize has been awarded.
Um, and it’s, I think, a, an opportunity for us to convene the world. We’ve got, uh, people from 50 different countries that have come to Des [00:04:00] Moines to spend the next couple of days. Some of them- Yeah … are right out here- Yeah … working. Uh, the Bucs hockey team is out here. I
Justin Brady: saw them. I mean- Yeah. They have their jerseys on.
Gov. Tom Vilsack: You got a little bit of everything here, but it is so reflective of the strong sense of community in our state. Um, and I’m so proud- Yeah … of all these folks.
Justin Brady: Absolutely. Governor Tom Vilsack, thank you so very much- Thank you … for some of your time, and I’ll let you get back to the chaos. All
Gov. Tom Vilsack: right. Here we go.
Justin Brady: Yeah. Still here at the World Food Prize, going to pack a record meals in one hour. We’re joined with Thomas Bradford with the Guinness World Records. Yep, that’s pretty sweet. Yeah. You actually have the official thing.
Thomas Bradford: Yeah.
Justin Brady: Tell … Okay, so you’re the one who’s going to be supervising, or there’s a technical term to this.
Thomas Bradford: Uh, adjudicator.
Justin Brady: Adjudicating. Yeah. You’re the one who’s going to be adjudicating. So you’re verifying that the record is actually going to be hit.
Thomas Bradford: Yes, that’s right.
Justin Brady: Do you have to be everywhere at one pl- like how, how does, how does something like this happen? It seems like a huge job.
Thomas Bradford: I wish I had that many eyeballs.
But thankfully, I d- there is a team of, um, volunteers here today that are gonna help me. [00:05:00] They’re kind of our official counters. They’ve been kind of trained. They’ve been going through the practice of, like, going through the routine of how they’re gonna practice and count all of these boxes for me. Um, and I will be overseeing that they’re counting fairly, that everything’s happening.
There’s so many rules of any kind of, any Guinness World Record attempt. Uh, so I’m just here to make sure all those rules are being followed. Yeah. Uh, but I will probably be stood on that stage kind of overseeing everything as much as I can. It’s
Justin Brady: like a lot of pressure.
Thomas Bradford: It can be. ‘Cause
Justin Brady: the last record for meals packed was, like, 13 years ago, something like that.
Yeah,
Thomas Bradford: in 2013. Oh,
Justin Brady: you know the date?
Thomas Bradford: Yeah, yeah. 2013. Oh, you
Justin Brady: do know the date.
Thomas Bradford: Yeah.
Justin Brady: 2013. Yeah. Oh, so 2013.
Thomas Bradford: Yeah.
Justin Brady: Yeah. The, um- Has this been attempted since then and just not- No … no, it’s not
Thomas Bradford: been attempted? I’m not sure. Oh, I’m not sure if it’s been attempted. I only see if it’s been successful or not. Oh. Uh, so there hasn’t been any successful attempts in 13 years, but, you know, that means it’s always good when there’s a record that takes a long time to be broken.
That means it’s hard. Yeah, yeah. For sure. And it’s one great, uh, achievement when you hopefully do break that record.
Justin Brady: Yeah. Do peop- do you come into an event when [00:06:00] you’re pretty sure they’re gonna do it, or do, or do adjudicators go all over the place all the time, and sometimes we don’t hit the records?
Thomas Bradford: I would say I probably have a 70% success rate of attempts I’ve been to.
That’s pretty good. So there’s usu- you know, you always hope that they’re going to break the world record, but- Yeah … world records are hard, you know? Not everyone can, uh … We’d love everyone to attempt to break a world record, but they’re really hard to break. Um, so you always hope that they can, but it just doesn’t always happen.
Justin Brady: What are some of the rules that adjudicators have when they come to an event like this? Obviously, you’re not incognito.
Thomas Bradford: No.
Justin Brady: You’re carrying the binder. Yes. Yeah, people can see me. You have the patch. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so obviously it’s okay for you to be seen. Mm-hmm. But are there, like, some top three rules where if someone asks you this, I have to shut it down, or I have to leave and plug my ear?
Are there any crazy rules like that?
Thomas Bradford: No, not really. No? There’s rules t- when it’s with the, um, whoever is attempting the record. They have a lot of rules. Sure. For us, no, we’re pretty, like, you know, we’re pretty chill. You know, we like to be … We’re nice people.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Thomas Bradford: One of Guinness World Records, like, key values is to have fun.
Okay. So we wanna make sure we’re having fun. I might not be able [00:07:00] to answer certain things when it comes to how, like, how the record is gonna be broken, because that might be something that the competitor doesn’t want people to know. Um, so in that regard, I would keep it quiet, but on the whole, we’re pretty
We’re an open book, the Guinness World Records book. But
Justin Brady: at the end of the night, will we have an official answer? Or do you have to, like, review footage in slow motion and- We will- … call an official with a cap?
Thomas Bradford: Well, I’m the official, just no cap today. Yeah. Um, but we will be trying to do everything we can today.
Okay. So that’s why the team of … If I was trying to count everything myself, we would probably be here until three days from now. That’s why you Uh, but that’s why we have the team here, and the, the team here have done a great work of, um, trying to make sure they have enough people here to help. So we should have an a- we should have a response, an answer today, hopefully.
Justin Brady: Amazing. Well, I’m glad you’re here. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to Iowa. Thank you. And here’s, fingers crossed- Yeah, no. Fingers crossed … we will break the record. Thank you. Thanks for coming. Thank you so much. Thank you.
All right. I’m Justin Brady with Iowapodcast.com. We’re at the World Food Prize. How much meals can you pack in an hour? Or something like that. How many meals can you [00:08:00] pack in an hour? How much ridiculousness can we take? Uh, we’re gonna try to pack a record. Guinness World Records is here. We’re gonna try to break a record for how many meals packed in an hour.
That’s basically what’s going on. And who better to talk about food than Brooks Reynolds, the founder of Blue Racon Ba- Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest. But also the new thing at the fair … Well, it’s not that new. It’s a couple years old now. Yeah, six,
Brooks Reynolds: six years. JR’s? Yeah, JR’s South Pork Ranch.
Justin Brady: JR’s South Pork Ranch.
Of course, you’re one of the volunteers here packing food. I did check his pockets. No bacon. I was a little disappointed. But, uh, how’d you get roped into this? Why are you here?
Brooks Reynolds: Oh, my family has been a supporter of the World Food Prize for many, many years. My, my parents and, uh, John Ruan and Janice Ruan were great friends.
And, uh, our company, Reynolds and Reynolds, were a long time in, uh, c- you know, World Food was clients of them. And, uh, so you know, just trying to support this event and the World Food Prize and the Borlaug Dialogue. Uh, I think this is my eighth time attending the, the Borlaug Dialogue. [00:09:00] It’s very eye-opening to see, you know, what they’re, who they’re bringing in and what, you know, issues, you know, are really, you know, hitting, you know, our food security and whatnot, and whether, you know, we’re with water and, you know, just the issues, global issues that affect everyone, you know?
It’s not just here in Iowa, you know. Things that happen all over the world a- affect us here in Iowa- Yeah … but also affect us all over the world. So, um, it’s just, you know, a great, a great dialogue of, you know, like-minded people that come here to Des Moines and, and really kind of, you know, come together to try to help solve, you know, world hunger.
Justin Brady: Yeah, for sure. What … Are you, um, in a team? Did you bring your own team, or-
Brooks Reynolds: I did not bring my own team. You just
Justin Brady: came by yourself?
Brooks Reynolds: I, I, I’m a, I’m, I’m attending the conference, so I’m just here just to kinda see what happens. I’ve seen a lot … Actually, I’ve seen a lot of people here so far walking in, and the Iowa State Fair board’s here.
Yeah. I saw some friends from there. I saw, um- A couple other people from the Des Moines Area Religious Council, Meals of the Heartland. [00:10:00] Uh, there’s just a lot of great companies that are here just help trying to support this event and support the World Food Prize.
Justin Brady: What’s the one thing people need to know who haven’t come here?
They ha- they don’t know what the World Food Prize is. They have no idea what the Borlaug Dialogue is. What’s the one thing Iowans need to know?
Brooks Reynolds: Uh, the World Food Prize, I would say, is kind of like the Nobel Prize for food. Uh, it just, it, you know, I think believe that the Nob- the World Food Prize laureate receives a very hearty grant stipend to basically help continue their studies, research, and advocacy to help end world hunger through food, uh, all over the world.
And there’s, there’s Noble- World Food laureates that are from all over, uh, the world that are here, you know, Africa, India, Southeast Asia. There’s a couple from the United States as well. But, uh, it’s just, it’s a very, you know… There’s over eight billion people here, and we gotta feed them. Yeah. And, you know, the water is a big issue, crop diversity, you know, regenerative crops, you know, hopefully that [00:11:00] we can just, you know, make our s- our health- soil healthy-
Justin Brady: Yep
Brooks Reynolds: and just good for, you know, trying to feed the world.
Justin Brady: Yeah. Everybody, go get some bacon on Brooks. No, just kidding. Totally kidding. Sure. Brooks Reynolds, thank you so much for giving me five minutes today. I appreciate it. Any
Brooks Reynolds: time.
Justin Brady: I’m Justin Brady with Iowapodcast.com. We’re at the World Food Prize. We’re gonna set a record packing meals in one hour, and of course, the Guinness Book of World Records guy is here. We just talked to him a moment ago. He is adjudicating, we learned that was the word, and we’re joined with Mayor Connie Boesen here, the mayor of Des Moines.
And why are you here? Tell us that.
Connie Boesen: First of all, it’s such a good cause. Yeah, for sure. I mean, when you can make food for millions of people to have the basic essentials, for the cause, World Food Prize is a tremendous organization. It’s a great asset for Des Moines, and we’re gonna set a record.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Connie Boesen: We’re breaking records.
I thought, “I can help.”
Justin Brady: For sure, and so you’re, you’re way over there getting- Right … ready to pack meal. You were doing some [00:12:00] dry runs.
Connie Boesen: Well, they had, like, a practice run. Yeah. We had to do 19 boxes.
Justin Brady: Oh, you do 19 boxes in a practice run?
Connie Boesen: In a practice run.
Justin Brady: Goodness.
Connie Boesen: Yeah.
Justin Brady: Just don’t… Make sure… Th- Can we slip that in there so the adjudicator didn’t see it?
Connie Boesen: No. I think they’re part of the count. They just wanted to have so then when they start- Yeah, yeah … they can move fast.
Justin Brady: For sure. What, what is… Obviously, World Food Prize headquarters is right here in the middle of Des Moines, right on the river. What are some of the things you, as a mayor, kinda or, like, are you, um…
What are, what are some of the things most people don’t know about it, that you’re pretty proud of it because it’s in Des Moines? Right. What are some of those things?
Connie Boesen: I just think it’s a great opportunity to learn more about the World Food Prize and what they do throughout the world. I mean, this is a big deal.
Yeah. I mean, it’s like the Nobel Peace Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, for agriculture and, and what it has brought Norman Borlaug, what a history- Yeah … uh, that he started and, uh, the billions of people he has saved.
Justin Brady: Oh, yeah. For
Connie Boesen: sure. So when you think about their mission and what they’re trying to do and create opportunity, and they have, [00:13:00] uh, I don’t know how many young people here from throughout the world.
I’ve
Justin Brady: seen, I’ve seen a lot of kids. Right.
Connie Boesen: Yeah. Uh, I think that it really is a true statement of how we can make a difference, and they’re a good part of making that difference for the betterment of people.
Justin Brady: Yeah, for sure. What’s that one thing that most people don’t know about the World Food Prize, most Iowans- I think-
and should know?
Connie Boesen: I think most people don’t realize the scope and the breadth of what they have to offer and that it is truly a world food- Two … organization.
Justin Brady: Yeah.
Connie Boesen: One Uh, and the pri- Mission … the, and it’s started by, uh, the Ruan family.
Justin Brady: Yeah, yeah.
Connie Boesen: Yeah. So- I
Justin Brady: mean, not to cut it off, but it sounds like you probably need to go pack some-
Connie Boesen: Yeah
meals here now. We gotta, we gotta go pack it. Yeah. We’re ready to go.
Justin Brady: Well, anyway. Yeah. Mayor, Mayor Connie Boesen, thank you so much for spending some time- Thank you … with us.
Connie Boesen: Let’s see ya.
Justin Brady: I’m Justin Brady. We’re still here at the World Food Prize packing record. One hour is all we have. We’re with Senator Renee Hardman, who’s one of the volunteers here. How did you get roped into this? You know, there was some- Yeah … wonderful social [00:14:00] media about it. I also got a call from Marcelle, the executive director, and she told
Renee Hardman: They told us about this project, and I’m like, “I am all in for feeding the world-” “… and doing it with so many people.” What is the one- I was excited. What is the one thing that, um, you hope will come out, outside of breaking the record, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. What’s the one thing you hope we accomplish today?
Well, I do hope we, uh, break the Guinness World Record. Yeah. Yeah. I hope that happens. But I hope that this inspires others to recognize and understand the greater need to help feed the world, also here in Iowa. And so I hope that when people see this, they’ll say, “Oh my gosh, how can I be a part of it? Even if it’s not this, I can always look up this organization and do what I can and bring others along to help feed the world.”
Justin Brady: What are some of those things about … Obviously, you’re deeply involved with the World Food Prize here. Yeah. What are some of those things that most Iowans don’t really understand about the World Food Prize, about the Borlaug Dialogue, or what this [00:15:00] organization’s about? Yeah. And what, what should they know?
Renee Hardman: Yeah. You know, I, I think that folks should understand more that this is an organization, while it does have a lot of international focus, it has a lot of local focus. That’s a good point. Half the, half the meals today are gonna be staying here in Iowa- Mm-hmm … to help food insecurity, with issues around food insecurity.
There’s education, there’s youth programming, there’s leadership programming. So there’s just so much wonderful work that’s around educating and creating an awareness around agricultural and food insecurity and those kinds of things. Yeah. I think that’s a great point. I think a lot of people sometimes look at the lofty goals- Yeah
Justin Brady: and the, um, the, the, the lofty goals the World Food Prize sets up around the world. Mm-hmm. And we kinda forget that the World Food Prize is very much an Iowa organization. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think this will help tell the story, too. Look at all the Iowans that are here today. Yeah. So there’s just lots of programming [00:16:00] that goes on at the World Food Prize that- Yeah
Renee Hardman: is very inspiring, very impactful, and we just wanna bring people in the home and learn more. Well, there’s a lot of people here. We were in here earlier, and- Yeah. I … Ca- ca- I was like, “Are we gonna fill this?” I can’t. Look at this. And this is crazy. Yes. I’ll let you get back to your crew. Okay. Okay. I know you guys were doing dry runs.
Yes. Yes. So, uh, thank you for spending time with us, Senator Hardman. Well, well, thank you. It’s an honor and a privilege to do this.