Mariangela Hungria.
| Photo Credit: World Food Prize via AP

A Brazilian scientist who pushed back against the use of chemical fertilisers and studied biological approaches to more robust food production has been honoured with this year’s World Food Prize, the organisation announced on May 13.

Microbiologist Mariangela Hungria has been researching biological seed and soil treatments for 40 years, and has worked with Brazilian farmers to implement her findings. Her accomplishment has now won her $500,000 from the Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation.

“I still cannot believe it. Everybody said, my whole life, it’s improbable, you are going the wrong way, just go to things like chemicals and so on. And then, I received the most important prize in the world of agriculture,” Hungria said in an interview.

Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to dramatically increase crop yields and reduce the threat of starvation in many countries, founded the World Food Prize. Since the first prize was handed out in 1987, 55 people have been honoured.

Hungria said she grew up wanting to alleviate hunger. Early in her career, she decided to focus on a process called biological nitrogen fixation, in which soil bacteria could be used to promote plant growth. At that time, farmers in Brazil and around the world were reluctant to reduce their use of nitrogen fertilisers, which dramatically increase crop production but lead to greenhouse gas emissions and pollute waterways.

Hungria studied how bacteria can interact with plant roots to naturally produce nitrogen. She then demonstrated her work on test plots and began working directly with farmers to convince them that they wouldn’t have to sacrifice high crop yields if they switched to a biological process.

The work is credited for increasing yields of several crops, including wheat, corn, and beans, but it has been especially affective on soybeans. Brazil has since become the world’s largest soybean producer, surpassing the US.

Although Hungria’s research could be applied on farms in other countries, soybean production in the US is different than it is in Brazil. American farmers typically rotate crops between growing corn and soybeans. Enough nitrate fertiliser applied to corn still remains in the soil when soybeans are planted and little or no fertiliser needs to be applied, Hungria said.

Brazilian agricultural companies have faced fierce criticism for clearing forested land to create farmland, largely to grow soybeans. Much of that criticism is justified, Hungria said, but she added that her approach builds up the soil and makes further encroachment into forested areas less necessary.

“If you manage the crop well, the crop will enrich the soil with nitrogen,” she said.

Hungria will be awarded her prize at an annual October gathering in Iowa of agricultural researchers and officials from around the world.

Gebisa Ejeta, chair of the World Food Prize Laureate Selection Committee, credited Hungria for the transformative effects of her research in South America.