More than 115 organizations have supported the call from 153 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates for a “moonshot” initiative to combat rising hunger worldwide. Released earlier this year, the letter highlights the urgent need for agricultural innovation to prevent a hunger crisis in the next 25 years, exacerbated by climate change’s impact on staple food production.
Announced at the World Food Prize Foundation’s DialogueNEXT in Washington, D.C., the 117 endorsing organizations span research, academia, industry, and nonprofits. Notable signatories include The Rockefeller Foundation, Wageningen University and Research, and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The signatories represent a global range, including Costa Rica’s EARTH University, India’s M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Côte d’Ivoire’s AfricaRice Center, and Australia’s Crawford Fund, according to a press release.
“The Rockefeller Foundation is privileged to stand with 153 Nobel Laureates and World Food Prize winners to urgently call for research and innovation to reverse the trajectory of our failing food system,” said Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President of the Food Initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation. “We must all step up to advance solutions and initiatives to scale food that is good for people and planet. Our futures are at stake.”
The original letter from the Laureates warned that the world is “not even close” to meeting future food demands, with 700 million people currently hungry and an additional 1.5 billion to feed by 2050. The letter predicted that, without increased global support for research and innovation, humanity would face a “more food insecure, unstable world” by mid-century.
Signatories included Robert Woodrow Wilson, Nobel laureate in Physics for his 1978 discovery supporting the Big Bang theory, and the 14th Dalai Lama. The initiative was coordinated by Cary Fowler, joint 2024 World Food Prize Laureate and former U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security. Other World Food Prize Laureates joining the call included NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig, Ethiopian-American plant breeder and U.S. National Medal of Science recipient Gebisa Ejeta, and Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank.
“The International Seed Federation, representing tens of thousands of seed and plant breeding companies across more than 70 countries, is proud to join this global coalition by endorsing the Laureate Letter 2025,” said Michael Keller, Secretary General, International Seed Federation. “By signing this letter, we reaffirm that innovation in seed and plant breeding, supported by robust, science-based policy frameworks, is critical to tackling two of the most pressing challenges of our time: food insecurity and the climate crisis.”
Underlining the importance of cross-sectoral mobilization to achieve food security, the World Food Prize Foundation Chief Executive Officer Governor Tom Vilsack said, “We applaud these 117 organizations for showing their commitment to eliminating hunger. However, this is just the beginning – now, we must mobilize the resources needed to produce substantial leaps in food production as soon as possible.”
This announcement comes as the World Food Prize Foundation gathers agrifood experts, academics, business leaders, and policymakers in Washington, D.C., to address the challenge of feeding a growing global population over the next 25 years. DialogueNEXT will focus on the agricultural innovations required to ensure 9.7 billion people have access to nutritious food.
