Borlaug was the great-grandchild of Norwegian immigrants.
Ole Olson Dybevig and Solveig Thomasdatter Rinde, of Feios, a small village in Vik kommune, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, emigrated to Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1854.
The family eventually moved to the small Norwegian-American community of Saude, near Cresco, Iowa.
There they were members of Saude Lutheran Church, where Norman was both baptized and confirmed.

Borlaug was born to Henry Oliver (1889–1971) and Clara (Vaala) Borlaug (1888–1972) on his grandparents' farm in Saude in 1914, the first of four children.
His three sisters were Palma Lillian (Behrens; 1916–2004), Charlotte (Culbert; b. 1919) and Helen (b. 1921).
From age seven to nineteen, he worked on the 106-acre (43 ha) family farm west of Protivin, Iowa, fishing, hunting, and raising corn, oats, timothy-grass, cattle, pigs and chickens.
He attended the one-teacher, one-room New Oregon #8 rural school in Howard County, through eighth grade.

Today, the school building, built in 1865, is owned by the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation as part of "Project Borlaug Legacy".
Borlaug was a member of the football, baseball and wrestling teams at Cresco High School, where his wrestling coach, Dave Barthelma, continually encouraged him to "give 105%".

Borlaug attributed his decision to leave the farm and pursue further education to his grandfather's urgent encouragement to learn:  Nels Olson Borlaug (1859–1935) once told him, "you're wiser to fill your head now if you want to fill your belly later on."
When Borlaug applied for admission to the University of Minnesota in 1933, he failed its entrance exam, but was accepted at the school's newly created two-year General College.
After two quarters, he transferred to the College of Agriculture's forestry program.
As a member of University of Minnesota's varsity wrestling team, Borlaug reached the Big Ten semifinals, and promoted the sport to Minnesota high schools in exhibition matches all around the state.

Wrestling taught me some valuable lessons  ... I always figured I could hold my own against the best in the world.
It made me tough.
Many times, I drew on that strength.
It's an inappropriate crutch perhaps, but that's the way I'm made.

To finance his studies, Borlaug put his education on hold periodically to earn some income, as he did in 1935 as a leader in the Civilian Conservation Corps, working with the unemployed on Federal projects.
Many of the people who worked for him were starving.
He later recalled, "I saw how food changed them ... All of this left scars on me".
From 1935 to 1938, before and after receiving his bachelor of science in forestry in 1937, Borlaug worked for the United States Forest Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho.
He spent one summer in the middle fork of Idaho's Salmon River, the most isolated piece of wilderness in the nation at that time.

In the last months of his undergraduate education, Borlaug attended a Sigma Xi lecture by Elvin Charles Stakman, a professor and soon-to-be head of the plant pathology group at the University of Minnesota.
The event was a pivot for Borlaug's future.
Stakman, in his speech entitled "These Shifty Little Enemies that Destroy our Food Crops", discussed the manifestation of the plant disease rust, a parasitic fungus that feeds on phytonutrients in wheat, oats, and barley crops.
He had discovered that special plant breeding methods produced plants resistant to rust.
His research greatly interested Borlaug, and when Borlaug's job at the Forest Service was eliminated because of budget cuts, he asked Stakman if he should go into forest pathology.
Stakman advised him to focus on plant pathology instead.
He subsequently enrolled at the University to study plant pathology under Stakman.
Borlaug earned a master of science degree in 1940, and a Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics in 1942.

Borlaug was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.
While in college, he met his future wife, Margaret Gibson, as he waited tables at a coffee shop in the university's  Dinkytown, where the two of them worked.
They
Borlaug was the great-grandchild of Norwegian immigrants. Ole Olson Dybevig and Solveig Thomasdatter Rinde, of Feios, a small village in Vik kommune, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, emigrated to Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1854. The family eventually moved to the small Norwegian-American community of Saude, near Cresco, Iowa. There they were members of Saude Lutheran Church, where Norman was both baptized and confirmed.
Borlaug was born to Henry Oliver (1889–1971) and Clara (Vaala) Borlaug (1888–1972) on his grandparents' farm in Saude in 1914, the first of four children. His three sisters were Palma Lillian (Behrens; 1916–2004), Charlotte (Culbert; b. 1919) and Helen (b. 1921). From age seven to nineteen, he worked on the 106-acre (43 ha) family farm west of Protivin, Iowa, fishing, hunting, and raising corn, oats, timothy-grass, cattle, pigs and chickens. He attended the one-teacher, one-room New Oregon #8 rural school in Howard County, through eighth grade. 
Today, the school building, built in 1865, is owned by the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation as part of "Project Borlaug Legacy". Borlaug was a member of the football, baseball and wrestling teams at Cresco High School, where his wrestling coach, Dave Barthelma, continually encouraged him to "give 105%".
Borlaug attributed his decision to leave the farm and pursue further education to his grandfather's urgent encouragement to learn:  Nels Olson Borlaug (1859–1935) once told him, "you're wiser to fill your head now if you want to fill your belly later on." When Borlaug applied for admission to the University of Minnesota in 1933, he failed its entrance exam, but was accepted at the school's newly created two-year General College. After two quarters, he transferred to the College of Agriculture's forestry program. As a member of University of Minnesota's varsity wrestling team, Borlaug reached the Big Ten semifinals, and promoted the sport to Minnesota high schools in exhibition matches all around the state.
Wrestling taught me some valuable lessons  ... I always figured I could hold my own against the best in the world. It made me tough. Many times, I drew on that strength. It's an inappropriate crutch perhaps, but that's the way I'm made.
To finance his studies, Borlaug put his education on hold periodically to earn some income, as he did in 1935 as a leader in the Civilian Conservation Corps, working with the unemployed on Federal projects. Many of the people who worked for him were starving. He later recalled, "I saw how food changed them ... All of this left scars on me". From 1935 to 1938, before and after receiving his bachelor of science in forestry in 1937, Borlaug worked for the United States Forest Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho. He spent one summer in the middle fork of Idaho's Salmon River, the most isolated piece of wilderness in the nation at that time.
In the last months of his undergraduate education, Borlaug attended a Sigma Xi lecture by Elvin Charles Stakman, a professor and soon-to-be head of the plant pathology group at the University of Minnesota. The event was a pivot for Borlaug's future. Stakman, in his speech entitled "These Shifty Little Enemies that Destroy our Food Crops", discussed the manifestation of the plant disease rust, a parasitic fungus that feeds on phytonutrients in wheat, oats, and barley crops. He had discovered that special plant breeding methods produced plants resistant to rust. His research greatly interested Borlaug, and when Borlaug's job at the Forest Service was eliminated because of budget cuts, he asked Stakman if he should go into forest pathology. Stakman advised him to focus on plant pathology instead. He subsequently enrolled at the University to study plant pathology under Stakman. Borlaug earned a master of science degree in 1940, and a Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics in 1942.
Borlaug was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. While in college, he met his future wife, Margaret Gibson, as he waited tables at a coffee shop in the university's  Dinkytown, where the two of them worked. They 
Norman Borlaug