Podcasts
16 December 2025
Podcast: The Next Billion Plates: World Food Prize Conversations
Jane attended the 2025 World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa, Des Moines. The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing individuals who improve global food quality, quantity, and availability. Often called the "Nobel Prize for food and agriculture", it was founded in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug and is managed by the World Food Prize Foundation.
In this special episode of The Science Behind Your Salad, we take you inside the World Food Prize and the Borlaug Dialogue, the gathering inspired by the grandfather of the Green Revolution, Norman Borlaug’s and his inherent belief that hunger is a challenge humanity can solve.
Recorded in Iowa, the episode brings together voices shaping the future of food. Jeannie Borlaug Laube reflects on her father’s legacy from his childhood farm. Rattan Lal reminds us why healthy soils still anchor global food security, while Cary Fowler offers the long view on safeguarding crop diversity.
Paul Temple grounds the discussion in farm-level realities, and Olivia Marti brings the energy of a new generation. With insights from Neil Bentley on innovation in a climate-stressed world, this episode closes with a simple truth: feeding the future will take science, leadership, and hope.
Hosted by Jane Craigie, and recorded in Iowa and produced by JCM&Co
