Seed bank leaders win $500,000 World Food Prize
Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler, founders of the “doomsday” seed bank in Norway, are this year’s winners of the $500,000 World Food Prize “for their longstanding contributions to seed conservation and crop biodiversity,” said the foundation overseeing the prize on Thursday. The scientists have been active for decades in efforts to preserve plant genetic resources, including an international plant treaty in 2001.
‘Nobel Prize of Agriculture’ awarded to NASA climate scientist
NASA climatologist Cynthia Rosenzweig, one of the first scientists to document the impact of climate change on food production, is this year’s winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize, said the Food Prize foundation on Thursday. “Dr. Rosenzweig has brought powerful computational tools into practical application in agriculture and food systems,” said foundation president Barbara Stinson during an announcement ceremony at the State Department.
World Food Prize goes to developer of fish-based food systems
Shakuntala Thilsted, who spent years proving, and then promoting, the value of fish grown in backyard ponds to improve the diets of poor families in Asia and Africa, was the 2021 winner of the $250,000 World Food, the sponsoring foundation announced on Tuesday. In Bangladesh, her pond-polyculture approach supports 18 million people and turned the nation into the world's fifth-largest aquaculture producer.
World Food Prize goes to scientist who ‘transformed the way the world saw soils’
Rattan Lal, one of the world's leading soil scientists, is this year's winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize, "the Nobel of agriculture," for his breakthrough research on the importance of carbon to soil health and the potential of carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Lal's research "transformed the way the world saw soils," said the foundation that awards the annual prize.
Dutch seed breeder wins the ‘Nobel of agriculture’
Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, credited with saving a billion people from starvation through the Green Revolution of high-yielding grain crops, created the World Food Prize to recognize stellar achievements in improving the world's food supply. Sixth-generation seedsman Simon Groot is the 2019 winner of the $250,000 prize, sometimes called the Nobel of agriculture, officials announced on Monday.
World Food Prize awarded to pair for work on maternal and child nutrition
Two nutrition advocates whose focus on maternal and child nutrition helped reduce the number of stunted children in the world by 10 million in five years are the winners of the World Food Prize for 2018, the award’s sponsor announced on Monday.
‘Nobel Prize of agriculture’ goes to Green Revolution leader in Africa
The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, is the 2017 winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize for his two decades of work expanding food production on the continent through policy reforms, financial innovation, and modern farming practices. The award is known as the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture.
Purdue launches food-waste initiative at World Food Prize meeting
The annual World Food Prize conference opens today in Des Moines, providing a setting for Purdue to launch its post-harvest initiative against food waste. The initiative is a bundle of projects to prevent food loss after harvest, improve nutrition, support food entrepreneurs and build agricultural value chains, says the university.
World Food Prize goes to four leaders in biofortification of crops
The $250,000 World Food Prize, sometimes called the Nobel of agriculture, was awarded to four scientists for development and promotion of biofortified crops, bred to include vitamins and micronutrients. An estimated 10 million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America already have better diets due to the improved staple crops, "with a potential of several hundred million more in the coming decades," said the prize foundation.
Big data may be boon for small farmers, developing world
Agricultural production in the developing world could get a boost from precision agriculture and Big Data techniques, said agribusiness executives at the World Food Prize conference in Des Moines according to DTN. Information gleaned from Big Data's detailed collection of crop production across a field can tailor seed, fertilizer and pesticide application rates to maximize yields while controlling production costs.
Obama to appoint Anderson, Ejeta to AID panel
President Obama tapped Pamela Anderson, of the Gates Foundation, and Gebisa Ejeta, the 2009 winner of the World Food Prize, to serve on the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.
Enormous potential in Cuba, ag trade is not a one-way street
World Food Prize laureate Pedro Sanchez, a soils scientist, says Cuba "could be a very good market" for U.S. food companies, but adds that "it's not a one-way situation." In an interview with UC Food Observer, Sanchez said, "America has so much to learn from Cuba. Some of the agricultural techniques used in Cuba may benefit our food system."
Bangladesh organizer Abed wins World Food Prize
The founder of a rural development organization active in 11 countries, Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh, is the winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize.
Vilsack to make keynote speech during Purdue visit
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is to make a keynote speech during a two-day visit to Purdue next week, said the university. Its president, Mitch Daniels, is to moderate the question-and-answer session that follows Vilsack's speech, which will be open to the public, on Monday.
Food production falters in Africa’s ebola zone
The agriculture ministers of Liberia and Sierra Leone say the ebola outbreak in western Africa is "exacerbating hunger and wrecking any plans to revitalize the region's farm production," says DTN from the World Food Prize symposium in Iowa.
Wheat breeder, a Borlaug colleague, wins World Food Prize
Sanjaya Rajaram, who worked with Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug and developed 480 wheat varieties, is the winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize for 2014.