(Radio Iowa) – A microbiologist from Brazil is the recipient of the 2025 Des Moines-based World Food Prize. Mariangela Hungria is the 10th woman to be named a World Food Prize Laureate. Mashal Husain — president of the World Food Prize Foundation — says Hungria changed the way fertilizer is used in Brazilians soybean fields. “Thanks to her work, over 40 million hectares of Brazilian farmland now benefit from this technology,” she said. “This achievement has saved Brazilian farmers an estimated $250 billion each year in input costs, mitigated greenhouse gas emissions and improved soil health.”

Hungria’s work has expanded to other crops and other continents. “Proving that the smallest organisms can create the most profound transformations,” Husain said, “…reshaping the very ground we stand on.” Each World Food Prize Laureate received a half a MILLION dollar award. The announcement of each year’s laureate is typically made in Washington, D.C., but the ceremony was held last (Tuesday) night at World Food Prize headquarters in Des Moines. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds addressed the crowd.

“Hosting this event in Iowa is more than a homecoming,” Reynolds said. “It’s also a powerful reminder of what this prize represents and where this story began.”

The World Food Prize was the dream of Iowa native Norman Borlaug, a Cresco, Iowa native who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his research that improved wheat yields in the developing world. Hungria is the 56th World Food Prize Laureate. She is scheduled to be in Des Moines this fall for the annual World Food Prize Symposium.