World Food Prize

World Food Prize
Awarded for	Outstanding achievement in advancement of human development through improved food quality, quantity, or availability
Location	Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Presented by	World Food Prize Foundation, with various sponsor companies
First awarded	1987
Official website	www.worldfoodprize.org

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. Since 1987, the prize has been awarded annually to recognize contributions in any field involved in the world food supply: food and agriculture science and technology, manufacturing, marketing, nutrition, economics, poverty alleviation, political leadership, and the social sciences. The World Food Prize Foundation is currently run by Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia.^[1]

History

The Iowa State Capitol.

Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug, the prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people. Borlaug saw the prize as a means of establishing role models who would inspire others.

In 1985, Borlaug met with the chief executive of General Foods Corporation, James Fergusen. Norman Borlaug presented his long standing desire for the establishment of a major prize for agriculture. The idea of a prize was met favourably by the Senior General Foods Management, but they expanded the scope of the prize to include all of the links of the food chain - from farm to table. General Foods Corporation organized a prize management structure and in 1986 announced the founding of the General Foods World Food Prize. This prize was funded solely by the General Foods Fund for the first four years of its existence, and partially funded by the General Foods Fund and other contributors in the fifth year.

Since 1990, the World Food Prize has been sponsored by businessman and philanthropist, John Ruan.

Laureates are honoured and officially awarded their prize in Des Moines, Iowa, in a televised award ceremony held in the House Chamber of the Iowa State Capitol. The Award Ceremony coincides with the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium, known as the Borlaug Dialogue, which addresses an issue related to hunger and food security each year. Past symposia have focused on the promises and challenges presented by biofuels for global development, the dual challenges of malnutrition and obesity, water insecurity and its impact on development and stability in the Middle East, and "The Green Revolution Redux: Can We Replicate the Single Greatest Period of Hunger Reduction in All Human History?".

In 2008, the World Food Prize Foundation received a $5 million contribution from Monsanto^[2] to ensure the continuation of the annual World Food Prize International Symposium "Borlaug Dialogue". The funds supported a renewed fundraising campaign to transform the historic and former central Des Moines Public Library building into a public museum, the Hall of Laureates, to honor Norman Borlaug and the work of the World Food Prize laureates.

The 2013 Borlaug Dialogue was held 16–19 October 2013.

Funding

The prize was first funded by General Foods. Since 1990, the World Food Prize has been sponsored by the businessman John Ruan.

Primary sponsors of the World Food Prize include the Government of the State of Iowa, The Iowa Economic Development Authority, The John Ruan Foundation Trust, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Other sponsors include over 100 charitable foundations, corporations and individuals, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dupont Pioneer, the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, the John Deere Foundation, the Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition, Monsanto, Ruan Transportation Management Systems, Claudia and Paul Schickler, and others.^[3]

Laureates

The World Food Prize laureates are formally honoured at the World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony annually on or near the World Food Day (16 October). The winners receive 250,000 United States dollar.

The announcement of the World Food Prize laureates is made in the late spring or early summer prior to her or his formal recognition in October.

Year	Laureates	Nationality	Achievement
2015	Sir Fazle Hasan Abed	Bangladesh	Founder of BRAC, the world's largest NGO, which is recognized for substantial work on reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries[4]
2014	Dr Sanjaya Rajaram	India  Mexico	Developed 480 varieties of disease resistant wheat[5]
2013	Dr Mary-Dell Chilton,[6] Dr Robert Fraley,[7] Dr Marc Van Montagu[8]	United States  United States  Belgium	Developed science of modern plant biotechnology supporting improved sustainability and global food security[9][10]
2012	Dr Daniel Hillel	Israel	Conceiving and implementing micro-irrigation in arid and dry land regions
2011	John Agyekum Kufuor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	Ghana  Brazil	Creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries
2010	David Beckmann Jo Luck	United States	Building Bread for the World and Heifer International into two of the world's foremost grassroots organizations leading the charge to end hunger and poverty around the globe.
2009	Gebisa Ejeta	Ethiopia	Developing Africa's first sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the parasitic witchweed.
2008	Bob Dole George McGovern	United States	Leading and encouraging a global commitment to school feeding, which has enhanced school attendance and nutrition for millions of the world's poorest children, especially young women and girls.
2007	Dr Philip E. Nelson	United States	Revolutionizing food processing, packaging, transportation, and distribution by perfecting bulk aseptic packaging technology and spreading the technology worldwide.
2006	Edson Lobato, His Excellency Alysson Paolinelli, Dr A. Colin McClung	Brazil  Brazil  United States	Pioneering work in soil science and policy implementation that opened the vast Cerrado region of Brazil to agricultural and food production.
2005	Dr Modadugu Vijay Gupta	India	Development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish farming (using tilapia species) by the rural poor.
2004	Prof. Yuan Longping	China	Development of hybrid rice varieties
	Dr Monty Jones	Sierra Leone	Development of New Rice for Africa (NERICA), with the potential to increase rice yields in Africa.
2003	Catherine Bertini	United States /  United Nations	Transforming the World Food Programme from a development assistance program to the largest and most effective humanitarian food relief organization
2002	Dr Pedro A. Sanchez	United States /  Cuba	Development of methods to restore fertility to degraded soils in Africa and South America.
2001	Dr Per Pinstrup-Andersen	Denmark	Establishment of "Food For Education" programs in which families receive food subsidies when children stay in school.
2000	Dr Evangelina Villegas, Dr Surinder K. Vasal	Mexico  India	Developing high quality protein maize (QPM).
1999	Dr Walter Plowright	United Kingdom	Developing a vaccine against the cattle plague rinderpest.
1998	Dr B. R. Barwale	India	Founder of independent seed company Mahyco, strengthening seed supply and distribution throughout India.
1997	Dr Ray F. Smith, Dr Perry Adkisson	United States  United States	Developing the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which employs various techniques to protect crops from insect damage in an environmentally sustainable manner.
1996	Dr Henry Beachell, Dr Gurdev Khush	United States  India	Developing "miracle rice" varieties that doubled rice production in Asia since their development.
1995	Dr Hans Rudolf Herren	Switzerland	Developing a pest control program for the cassava mealybug, which could destroy African cassava crop.
1994	Dr Muhammad Yunus	Bangladesh	Founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, developed innovative small loan programs for the poor, providing millions of people access to more food and better nutrition.
1993	His Excellency He Kang	China	Initiation of reforms while head of the Ministry of Agriculture which made China self-sufficient for food production.
1992	Dr Edward F. Knipling, Raymond C. Bushland	United States  United States	Developing the sterile insect technique (SIT) to control insect parasites that harm the world's food supply.
1991	Dr Nevin S. Scrimshaw	United States	Human nutrition studies that led to the use of protein-rich food products to combat malnutrition in developing countries.
1990	Dr John Niederhauser	United States	Discovering a durable resistance to potato late blight.
1989	Dr Verghese Kurien	India	Founder of Operation Flood the largest agricultural development program in the world made the farmer the owner of his cooperative, cutting out middlemen. India emerged as the largest producer of milk in 1998 from milk scarcity when he started.
1988	Dr Robert F. Chandler	United States	Founding leadership of the International Rice Research Institute and his dedication to developing tropical rice varieties that doubled and tripled the yields of traditional varieties.
1987	Prof. M. S. Swaminathan	India	Introducing high-yielding wheat and rice varieties to India starting India's Green Revolution.

Hall of Laureates

The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates is located in the former Central Library on the Principal Riverwalk in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, which was constructed in the early 1900s as part of the City Beautiful movement.

The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates honours the dreams of Dr Norman Borlaug, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and founder of the World Food Prize, as well as those of John Ruan, an iconic Des Moines businessman. John Ruan envisioned Des Moines as the "food capital of the world", and had advocated for a World Trade Center to be built in the city in the 1980s. Such a centre was never built, but Ruan's endowment of the World Food Prize in 1990 set in motion a goal to secure a home for such an organization. John Ruan III began the fundraising efforts with a donation of five millions of dollars from his family in 2001. Ten years and 30 million of dollars later, the renovation was finished in time for the 25th anniversary of the World Food Prize.^[11] The original staircase to the east entrance had been removed in 1955 but was restored during the renovation. Also restored was the acroterium which had been destroyed in the mid-1930s.

A significant portion of project funding was devoted to commissioning dozens of pieces of artwork by artists from Iowa and around the world to be displayed in the building. In addition, a new fountain and statues of John Ruan and Norman Borlaug can be found in the gardens on the west side of the building.^[11]

Education

Borlaug-Ruan Internship

The Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides high school students an opportunity for an eight-week hands-on experience, working with world-renowned scientists and policy makers at leading research centres around the world.

The internship was founded in 1994 and has funded over one hundred Borlaug-Ruan interns who have travelled to Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Trinidad.

Iowa Hunger Summit

The Iowa Hunger Summit has taken place during the week of the World Food Prize events since 2007. The event celebrates the role Iowans play in fighting hunger and advancing food security each year. The activities are open to the public and aim to encourage interaction among leaders in the community, government, schools, places of worship, and organizations.^[12]

Controversy

The 2013 award to the seed biotechnology industry (Monsanto, Syngenta and European Federation of Biotechnology) has drawn criticism from opponents of genetically modified crops.^{[9][13][14][15]}

See also

• List of agriculture prizes
• List of prizes known as the Nobel of a field

Notes and references

Bibliography

• A. S. Clausi, online article on Institute of Food Technologists website about the creation and history of the World Food Prize (members only), accessed on 24 October 2009.
• A. S. Clausi, "General Foods established World Food Prize", Food Technology, October 2009, p. 79.

External links

• Official website
• History