New Delhi, May 15 -- Brazilian scientist Mariangela Hungria has won the 2025 World Food Prize for her pioneering work in reducing the use of chemical fertilisers and developing biological seed and soil treatments to boost crop yields and nutrition.

Hungria, a microbiologist from Sao Paulo, was awarded the $500,000 prize on May 13, 2025 by the World Food Prize Foundation. Over a four-decade career with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), she developed dozens of biological treatments that enabled crops to absorb nutrients from soil bacteria-enhancing the productivity of wheat, maize, rice, beans and especially soybeans, now Brazil's top agricultural export.

"Over her 40-year career with the Embrapa, national soybea...