♦ Brazilian microbiologist Mariangela Hungria was named the 2025 World Food Prize Laureate on 13 May 2025.

♦ Her research has helped farmers in the country sharply boost grain production. 

♦ Hungria was a researcher for more than 40 years at Brazil’s state-run agricultural center Embrapa, where she works on seeds and soil treatments that enable plants to source nutrients through soil bacteria, a particularly important development for soybean crops.

♦ Her work helped Brazil increase soybean production from around 15 million metric tons in the 1980s to more than 170 million tons today, making the country the world’s largest producer and exporter of the commodity.

♦ Hungria will receive $500,000 for being named a Laureate. The World Food Prize was created by Norman E. Borlaug, an American agronomist who developed solutions to increase agricultural production.