Israeli scientist wins World Food Prize

The 2012 World Food Prize has been awarded to Dr. Daniel Hillel, an Israeli scientist who pioneered a radically innovative way of bringing water to crops in arid and dry-land regions, at a ceremony held in Des Moines, USA.

The video above shows the story of Norman Borlaug for whom the World Food Prize was named

Dr. Hillel became acutely aware of the critical issue of agriculture and water scarcity in the highlands of the Negev Desert and his research led to dramatic changes in the way irrigation is applied in dry climates. Traditionally, large amounts of water were used to flood crop areas, which were then allowed to dry; however, Dr Hillel developed a new method that applies water continuously to the soil directly around plant roots, thereby dramatically cutting the amount of water needed to nourish crops, helping to maintain better plant health standards that result in higher crop yields.

These methods are now used on more than 6 million hectares in more than 30 countries, impacting on the lives of millions of people across the world.

The prize was awarded by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Ban Ki-moon, whose opening remarks at the World Food Prize Laureate Ceremony at the Iowa State Capital described how this year’s drought in Iowa will affect food prices and the availability of food and saying: “Iowa is that important. Iowa nourishes the world.”

At the ceremony, two students were also recognized for excellence in their research and work abroad as participants in the Global Youth Institute in summer 2011. Anthony Wenndt received the John Crystal Award for his work investigating rural smallholders’ use of Push-Pull Agriculture near Lake Victoria and Pavane Gorrepati received the Elaine Szymoniak Award for her high standard of work during her internship at the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center in Changsha, China where she examined both the scientific and human elements of hybrid rice.

The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, The World Food Prize has honoured outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world. Laureates have been recognized from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Nations and the United States.

The ceremony was attended by Farming Monthly National correspondent Heather Briggs.