# World Food Prize

The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug and established in 1986 through the support of General Foods, the prize is envisioned and promoted as the Nobel or the highest honors in the field of food and agriculture. It is now administered by the World Food Prize Foundation with support from numerous sponsors. Since 1987, the prize has been awarded annually to recognize contributions in any field involved in the world food supply, such as animal science, aquaculture, soil science, water conservation, nutrition, health, plant science, seed science, plant pathology, crop protection, food technology, food safety, policy, research, infrastructure, emergency relief, and poverty alleviation and hunger.
Laureates are honored and officially awarded their prize in Des Moines, Iowa, in an award ceremony held at Iowa State Capitol. Laureates are presented with a diploma, a commemorative sculpture designed by Saul Bass and a monetary award of $500,000.
The Foundation also has the aim of "inspiring exceptional achievement in assuring adequate food and nutrition for all". A number of associated events and honors include the Borlaug International Symposium and the Norman Borlaug Field Award, the Iowa Hunger Summit and youth programs such as the Borlaug-Ruan International Internships.

## History

Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for contributions that resulted in the extensive increase in global food production. Chairperson of the Nobel Committee Aase Lionæs gave the rationale that the committee had linked providing much needed food to the world as a path for peace. Further, the increase in food production has given policy planners across the world more years in figuring out how to feed the growing population. 12 years later, Borlaug approached the Nobel Foundation to include a prize for food and agriculture. However, the Foundation was bound by Alfred Nobel's will which did not allow for the creation of such a new prize. Borlaug continued his search for a sponsor elsewhere.
In 1986, General Foods Corporation, under Vice President A. S. Clausi's leadership, agreed to establish the prize and be the founding sponsor. The amount they agreed to, US$ 200,000, was equivalent to the value of the Nobel Prizes at the time. In 1990, the sponsorship was taken over by businessman and philanthropist John Ruan and his family. The Ruan family established the World Food Prize Foundation backed by an endowment of $ 10 million. In 2000, Kenneth M. Quinn was made the president. Borlaug, Ruan, and Quinn were all from the US state of Iowa. Barbara Stinson succeeded Quinn as the second president in 2019.
The former Des Moines Library was acquired and the Ruan family gave $ 5 million to renovate the building into the headquarters for the World Food Prize Foundation. A number of sponsors would go on to contribute over US$20 million in a campaign to transform the building into a public museum, the Hall of Laureates, to honor Borlaug and the work of the World Food Prize laureates. Other sponsors have included over 100 charitable foundations, corporations and individuals, who have helped sustain the prize and the Foundation's associated events. The Founder's Boardroom in the Hall of Laureates commemorates 27 individuals who played an important part in the foundation of the prize.
The first chairperson of the World Food Prize laureate selection committee was Norman Borlaug. Borlaug appointed the first laureate M. S. Swaminathan as his successor in 2009. Currently, Gebisa Ejeta, the 2009 laureate, is the chairperson. Apart from the chairperson who is a non-voting member, other members of the selection committee remain anonymous.
On January 24, 2023, the Foundation announced that former Iowa Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad would take over as president, replacing outgoing former president Barbara Stinson.

## Laureates

World Food Prize laureates include the following:
* 1987 recipient M. S. Swaminathan
* 1992 recipient Edward F. Knipling
* 1993 recipient He Kang
* 1994 recipient Muhammad Yunus
* 2009 recipient Gebisa Ejeta
* 2016 recipient Maria Andrade
* 2017 recipient Akinwumi Adesina
* 2018 recipient David Nabarro
| Year | Laureate(s) | Country | Rationale |
| 1987 | M. S. Swaminathan | India | For leadership and science in introducing high-yielding wheat and rice varieties to India in the 1960s starting India's Green Revolution, and for leadership at International Rice Research Institute |
| 1988 | Robert F. Chandler | United States | For leadership in setting up the International Rice Research Institute and World Vegetable Center, paving the way for creation of CGIAR, and science leading to the development of high yield rice |
| 1989 | Verghese Kurien | India | For leadership during Operation Flood, for making the farmer the owner of his cooperative, resulting in India emerging as the largest producer of milk |
| 1990 | John Niederhauser | United States | For leadership and science research in potato production and improving its resistance to disease |
| 1991 | Nevin S. Scrimshaw | United States | For human nutrition studies combatting protein, iodine, and iron deficiencies and developing nutrition rich foods |
| 1992 | Edward F. Knipling | United States | For developing the sterile insect technique to control insect parasites that harm food supply |
| 1992 | Raymond Bushland | United States | For developing the sterile insect technique to control insect parasites that harm food supply |
| 1993 | He Kang | China | For reforms as head of the Ministry of Agriculture which made China self-sufficient in food production |
| 1994 | Muhammad Yunus | Bangladesh | For innovative micro loan programs for the poor, providing millions of people access to more food and better nutrition |
| 1995 | Hans Rudolf Herren | Switzerland | For developing a pest control program for the cassava mealybug, which could destroy African cassava crop |
| 1996 | Henry Beachell | United States | For advances in rice breeding leading to substantially increased rice production benefitting numerous countries |
| 1996 | Gurdev Khush | India | For advances in rice breeding leading to substantially increased rice production benefitting numerous countries |
| 1997 | Ray F. Smith | United States | For individual and joint efforts in developing sustainable integrated pest management techniques |
| 1997 | Perry Adkisson | United States | For individual and joint efforts in developing sustainable integrated pest management techniques |
| 1998 | B.R. Barwale | India | For improving commercial access to high quality seeds throughout India |
| 1999 | Walter Plowright | United Kingdom | For developing a vaccine against the cattle plague rinderpest |
| 2000 | Evangelina Villegas | Mexico | For research and leadership in improving the productivity and nutritional content of maize through development of quality protein maize |
| 2000 | Surinder Vasal | India | For research and leadership in improving the productivity and nutritional content of maize through development of quality protein maize |
| 2001 | Per Pinstrup-Andersen | Denmark | For research efforts leading to changes in policy in several countries related to food subsidy |
| 2002 | Pedro A. Sanchez | United States | For development of methods to restore fertility to degraded soils in Africa and South America. |
| 2003 | Catherine Bertini | United Nations | For transforming the World Food Programme into an effective humanitarian food relief organization |
| 2004 | Yuan Longping | China | For the development of the first hybrid rice varieties including the technologies needed for it |
| 2004 | Monty Jones | Sierra Leone | For the development of New Rice for Africa, with the potential to increase rice yields in Africa |
| 2005 | Modadugu Vijay Gupta | India | For development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish farming |
| 2006 | Edson Lobato | Brazil | For individual efforts in science and policy that opened the Cerrado region of Brazil to agricultural |
| 2006 | Alysson Paolinelli | Brazil | For individual efforts in science and policy that opened the Cerrado region of Brazil to agricultural |
| 2006 | Andrew Colin McClung | United States | For individual efforts in science and policy that opened the Cerrado region of Brazil to agricultural |
| 2007 | Philip E. Nelson | United States | For improving aseptic packaging and spreading the technology worldwide. |
| 2008 | Bob Dole | United States | For leadership towards encouraging global commitment to school feeding |
| 2008 | George McGovern | United States | For leadership towards encouraging global commitment to school feeding |
| 2009 | Gebisa Ejeta | Ethiopia | For developing Africa's first sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the parasitic witchweed |
| 2010 | David M. Beckmann | United States | For their leadership in two grassroots organisations tackling hunger and nutrition |
| 2010 | Jo Luck | United States | For their leadership in two grassroots organisations tackling hunger and nutrition |
| 2011 | John Kufuor | Ghana | For creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries |
| 2011 | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Brazil | For creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries |
| 2012 | Daniel Hillel | Israel | For conceiving and implementing micro-irrigation in arid and dry land regions |
| 2013 | Marc Van Montagu | Belgium | For their individual achievements in modern agricultural biotechnology supporting sustainability and global food security (see controversy) |
| 2013 | Mary-Dell Chilton | United States | For their individual achievements in modern agricultural biotechnology supporting sustainability and global food security (see controversy) |
| 2013 | Robert Fraley | United States | For their individual achievements in modern agricultural biotechnology supporting sustainability and global food security (see controversy) |
| 2014 | Sanjaya Rajaram | India Mexico | For developing 480 varieties of disease resistant wheat and increasing global production by 200 million tons |
| 2015 | Fazle Hasan Abed | Bangladesh | For building an organization that is effective in reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries |
| 2016 | Maria Andrade | Cape Verde | For the "single most successful example of biofortification" in the form of biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato that is resistant, tolerant and high yielding |
| 2016 | Robert Mwanga | Uganda | For the "single most successful example of biofortification" in the form of biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato that is resistant, tolerant and high yielding |
| 2016 | Jan Low | United States | For the "single most successful example of biofortification" in the form of biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato that is resistant, tolerant and high yielding |
| 2016 | Howarth Bouis | United States | For "the implementation of a multi-institutional approach to biofortification as a global plant breeding strategy" |
| 2017 | Akinwumi Adesina | Nigeria | For leadership and innovation in building political will to transform African agriculture at all levels |
| 2018 | Lawrence Haddad | United Kingdom South Africa | For elevating maternal and child malnutrition to a central issue at national and international levels |
| 2018 | David Nabarro | United Kingdom United Nations | For elevating maternal and child malnutrition to a central issue at national and international levels |
| 2019 | Simon N. Groot | Netherlands | For empowering smallholder farmers in more than 60 countries through enhanced vegetable production |
| 2020 | Rattan Lal | India United States | For a soil-centric approach to sustainably increasing food production |
| 2021 | Shakuntala H. Thilsted | Trinidad and Tobago Denmark | For achievements in pioneering fish-based nutrition-sensitive approaches to food systems |
| 2022 | Cynthia Rosenzweig | United States | For her pioneering work in modeling the impact of climate change on food production worldwide |
| 2023 | Heidi Kühn | United States | For her farmer-focused development model that revitalizes farmland, food security, livelihoods and resilience after devastating conflict. |
| 2024 | Cary Fowler | United States | For their extraordinary leadership in preserving and protecting the world's heritage of crop biodiversity and mobilizing this critical resource to defend against threats to global food security. |
| 2024 | Geoffrey Hawtin | United Kingdom Canada | For their extraordinary leadership in preserving and protecting the world's heritage of crop biodiversity and mobilizing this critical resource to defend against threats to global food security. |

## Associated events

The Foundation has expanded into a number of associated events including the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium, also known as the World Food Prize Symposium or the Borlaug Dialogue. A Youth Institute was established in 1994 to motivate youngsters in agriculture, food, population and connected sciences. Youth Institutes have been set up in 24 states of the United States, and three other countries. based on essays, high school students are selected to take part in the activities of these institutes. Participation in these institutes also makes one eligible for an eight-week internship program.
The Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides high school students an eight-week opportunity for a hands-on experience, working with scientists and policymakers in hunger and nutrition at research centres around the world. The internship was founded in 1998 and has funded over 350 Borlaug-Ruan interns who have travelled to 34 agricultural research centres around the world. The Iowa Hunger Summit has taken place during the week of the World Food Prize events since 2007. The event is open to the public and celebrates the role Iowans play in fighting hunger and advancing food security each year.