EMBRAPA Scientist is Awarded World Food Prize
- Jamie Ryding
- May 16
- 1 min read
Dr. Mariangela Hungria will receive the World Food Prize for her decades of work in microbial applications in agriculture. Based at EMBRAPA, Dr. Hungria has advanced the use of Rhizobia and Azospirillum to boost nitrogen uptake by soybeans, among other discoveries.
The articles I came across from NPR and AP News also had some useful notes on the differences between the Brazil and US markets, commenting on higher usage rates of microbials by Brazilian farmers due to the effort from EMBRAPA to characterize effectiveness of additives under local conditions, and regulation of the market by the Brazilian government to only license products with demonstrated efficacy.
The AP report notes that US farmers are more likely to rotate between corn and soybeans, where residual nitrogen from fertilizer used on corn may reduce the need for additions for soy crops. From a climate perspective, it would seem preferable to lean into the opposite carry-over effect, boosting soy nitrogen fixation to help reduce fertilizer additions for corn. Comments?
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