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2022 World Food Prize Winner
On May 5, the World Food Prize committee announced the winner of the World Food Prize. She is Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist and head of the Climate Impacts group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The prestigious World Food Prize, known as the “Nobel Prize for Agriculture and Nutrition,” is the foremost international honor recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
Dr. Rosenzweig “has spent four decades cultivating our understanding of biophysical and socioeconomic impacts that climate change and food systems have on each other, improving the methods that we use to predict these trends,” said World Food Prize Foundation President Barbara Stinson at the announcement ceremony.
“Her collaborative research provides the scientific evidence used by thousands of decision makers in more than 90 countries that are striving to both mitigate the impacts of and adapt to climate change. Our laureate’s work shows that data-driven strategies curb climate change impacts and enhance sustainable food production at the same time.”
“Dr. Rosenzweig embodies the leadership, innovation, and experience necessary to face the intersecting challenges of global hunger and the climate crisis and to empower agriculture to be a meaningful solution to address these challenges,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
“Through work that thus far has spanned four decades, she set out to discover what will happen to our food with the climate changing so rapidly and has been at the cutting edge of using modeling to predict outcomes.”
In 2022, we stand at a critical moment for food security, said Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez. And of course, one of the root causes of food insecurity is climate change.
“Dr. Rosenzweig was one of the first scientists to document how climate change affects food production. Thanks to her research, we can better predict how rising temperatures, extreme weather, and carbon dioxide will affect food production and quality.”
“We’ll continue to pursue climate-smart agricultural methods and innovative solutions to drive transformation in climate action, in no small part thanks to [Dr. Rosenzweig’s] groundbreaking work,” said Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack.
“Congratulations to her on this incredible, successful career, which is culminated in this noble and well-deserved honor. This generation and future generations thank you.”