Many of the world’s top scientists, agricultural researchers, and government leaders are visiting Iowa this week for the annual World Food Prize events. Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, says much of the discussion will center around the effort to produce enough nutritional food to feed the world’s anticipated population of nine-billion by 2050. That discussion will start with a presentation about the current trend lines.
Quinn says panelists will tackle some tough questions this week in Des Moines.
The ebola outbreak will also be a hot topic, as experts from Africa will talk about the impact of ebola on agricultural production.
The ministers of agriculture from Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are scheduled to be in attendance. The president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, will deliver the keynote address on Thursday.
The Iowa-based World Food Prize was established in 1986 as a way to honor those who make contributions to improve the quality and availability of food. This year’s $250,000 prize will be awarded to Sanjaya Rajaram, who succeeded Iowa native and World Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug as head of a wheat breeding program in Mexico.
