Brazil Scientist Wins 2025 World Food Prize

In 1966, in a small town in Brazil, an eight year old girl unwrapped a gift from her grandmother. It was a book. Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif. Inside its pages were stories of scientists who unlocked invisible worlds, who forever changed the course of human history.

[Mariangela Hungria] “Since I was a child, I dreamed of being a microbiologist and fighting against hunger. But it seemed improbable that I could ever succeed. Even so, I chose to be an agronomist.”

Her teachers urged her to choose a different path, but she refused to be deterred, and she enrolled in the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the University of Sao Paulo. It was the late 1970s. Soil science was dominated by men. Fertility was defined by chemicals, and soil microbiology was an afterthought. Hungria's focus was on nitrogen, an essential nutrient typically supplied by expensive chemical fertilizers.

Her idea was bold use naturally occurring bacteria to provide nitrogen to crops, reducing environmental harm, and cutting costs for farmers. The Micro Green Revolution was born. Hungria earned her doctorate at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, and she set out to build an ambitious research program from scratch through decades of research and development at Aprosoja, the national soybean center of Brazil.

Hungria built her field of study from the ground up. She developed more than 30 technologies related to microorganisms, including a range of microbial inoculations for soybeans, common beans, maize, wheat, rice, pasture grasses, and other major crops. She focused on elite strains of rhizobia, a symbiotic bacteria that forms nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots of legumes. She tested their effects on crops and identified varieties that responded best to the microorganisms. 

Yet Hungria’s work went far beyond the laboratory. In the spirit of Norman Borlaug’s “take it to the farmer” philosophy and vision, Hungria spent as much time in the field working with farmers as she did in the lab. She led field days, conducted extension training, and wrote technical pamphlets. In 1994, she published the first Portuguese language manual for tropical soil microbiology methods. 

These efforts ensured that her scientific breakthroughs translated to real world impact. As a professor, Hungria trained and mentored over 200 young researchers, nurturing the next generation of agricultural scientists. She has published over 500 scientific articles, technical manuals, books, and book chapters, communicating her findings with clarity and accessibility. Hungria has been a staunch advocate and mentor for women in science. 

She guides her students with both rigor and compassion. Sharing her experiences as a scientist and mother to inspire others navigating this balance. Her mentorship has empowered countless women to pursue and thrive in agricultural science careers. Her work has transformed Brazilian agriculture. The microbial inoculations she helped develop are now applied to more than 40 million hectares in Brazil, and have spread to farms globally. 

Microbial inoculation is now used on 85% of Brazil's soybean fields. More than 30 million hectares, the highest adoption rate in the world. Her innovation saved Brazilian farmers an estimated $25 billion annually, prevent 230 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions and boost yields beyond what synthetic fertilizer can achieve. Brazil has become the world's leading soybean producer and exporter, with Hungria's work laying the foundation for the country's agricultural and economic growth over the past several decades. In a time of immense pressure to produce more food with less resources and lower environmental impact, her pioneering work advances sustainable production, eco innovation, recarbonization, one health and, above all, food security. Through her groundbreaking research, commitment to sustainable crop production, and dedication to education, Hungria has earned global recognition as a transformative agricultural scientist. 

Gov. Kim Reynolds, R - Iowa: “So now, therefore, I, Kim Reynolds, governor of the state of Iowa, do hereby proclaim Dr. Hungria of Brazil as the 2025 World Food Prize laureate.”

Dr. Mariangela Hungria/2025 World Food Prize Laureate: “I feel especially honored to receive this prize as a woman. For centuries, women's roles in agriculture have been invisible and unrecognized. Yet in most countries, we are the ones cultivating the land, saving the best seeds and passing down nutritional knowledge through generations.”