Backed by two foundations, the National Academy of Sciences said it will begin annual awards in 2017 of a $100,000 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences. The prize, to recognize “a mid-career scientist at a U.S. institution who has made contribution” to the fields, would join the $250,000 World Food Prize as a prestigious award for work in food and agriculture.
“Endless discovery and innovation is essential in the quest to improve the quality of nutrition for all humans while recognizing inherent limitations in land, fresh water, and environmentally safe levels of fertilizer application,” said NAS president Marcia McNutt in announcing the creation of the prize. The Gates Foundation and the congressionally created Foundation for Farm and Agriculture Research endowed the prize fund. NAS is a private nonprofit foundation chartered by Congress in 1863.
Areas of work eligible for the prize include plant and animal sciences, microbiology, nutrition and food science, soil science, entomology, veterinary medicine, and agricultural economics. Nominations will be accepted until Oct. 3. For the prize, a mid-career scientist is someone who earned a doctoral degree within the past 20 years.
The World Food Prize, the brainchild of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, recognizes contributions affecting the world food supply and tends to recognize long-term leaders in a field. This year, the prize went to four scientists instrumental in biofortification, the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops.