The World Food Prize Foundation hosts their event in Des Moines, and awards the prize — considered one of the highest honors in the field of food and agriculture — to a laureate who has made vital contributions to improving the quality and quantity of food throughout the world.
This year's World Food Prize was awarded to scientists Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler, who were instrumental in establishing the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which holds 1.25 million seed samples of more than 6,000 plant species in an underground facility in the Arctic Circle. Hawtin and Fowler share about their decades-long efforts both individually and as collaborators in protecting the world's heritage of crop biodiversity.
Guests:
- Geoffrey Hawtin, founding director and executive board member, Global Crop Diversity Trust
- Cary Fowler, U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, U.S. Department of State
