World Food Prize goes to 2 who helped protect vital seeds in an Arctic Circle vault
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two men who were instrumental in the “craziest idea anyone ever had” of creating a global seed vault designed to safeguard the world’s agricultural diversity will be honored as the 2024 World Food Prize laureates, officials announced Thursday in Washington.
Cary Fowler, the U.S. special envoy for Global Food Security, and Geoffrey Hawtin, an agricultural scientist from the United Kingdom and executive board member at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, will be awarded the annual prize this fall in Des Moines, Iowa, where the food prize foundation is based. They will split a $500,000 award.
The winners of the prize were named at the State Department, where Secretary or State Antony Blinken lauded the men for their “critical role in preserving crop diversity” at seed banks around the world and at a global seed vault, which now protects over 6,000 varieties of crops and culturally important plants.