Editor’s Note: As we face unprecedented challenges in global food security, it is more important than ever to recognise and celebrate the efforts of young individuals working tirelessly to feed the world’s growing population. The World Food Prize Foundation has opened nominations for the 2025 Dr Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application to celebrate outstanding achievements in international agriculture and food production by individuals under 40 years old.
The World Food Prize Foundation has opened nominations for the Dr Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation.
The $10,000 award recognises exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under the age of 40. Recipients embody the intellectual bravery, resilience and resolve exemplified by Dr. Borlaug as a young scientist in Mexico combating global hunger and poverty.
“The Borlaug Field Award honors an innovator and problem solver who is effecting real change, just the way Dr. Borlaug did all those years ago,” said Mashal Husain, President, World Food Prize Foundation. “With 1.5 billion people to feed by 2050, young leaders are crucial to building sustainable, vibrant food systems. We are looking for the next Norman Borlaug to help lead the way.”
The award ceremony will take place in conjunction with the Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue in October, 2025. The Borlaug Dialogue, held with the World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony, gathers global leaders and experts to address key food security and agriculture issues, fostering collaboration among over 1,500 attendees from over 65 countries. Since its establishment in 2011, the Borlaug Field Award has been awarded to thirteen outstanding individuals representing diverse backgrounds across the globe.
The 2024 Recipient was Dr Dennis Beesigamukama, Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, Kenya. He received the award for his groundbreaking work in developing innovative, low-cost technologies that recycle organic waste into nutrient-rich, insect-composted organic fertilisers, significantly impacting agricultural practices across East Africa.
“Receiving the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application makes me totally thrilled and grateful,” said Beesigamukama. “It has refueled my energy in harnessing the immense power of insects, the small creatures with big impact, capable of breathing fresh life into degraded soils and sustainably transforming agriculture for improved food security while ensuring climate resilience and One Health.”
The individuals chosen to be recipients of the Borlaug Field Award are selected by an anonymous international jury, chaired by Dr. W. Ronnie Coffman of Cornell University. To learn more about the nomination process and requirements, please visit here.
