Belgian scientist awarded ‘Nobel Prize for food and agriculture’

The Belgian plant scientist Marc Van Montagu has been awarded the 2013 World Food Prize, jointly with the American scientists Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley, reports the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIT). This was announced in Washington DC on Wednesday by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. The World Food Prize - the ‘Nobel Prize for food and agriculture’ - gives the award annually to one or more people whose work has been of exceptional social importance for the quality, quantity or availability of food. This is the first time that a Belgian has won this prestigious award. Marc Van Montagu (pictured right) and the Americans Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley are sharing the prize “for their individual, independent breakthroughs as founders of modern, green biotechnology and their contributions to its development and application”, according to the chairman of the World Food Prize foundation, Kenneth M. Quinn. “Thanks to the research carried out by these scientists, famers today can grow crops that are resistant to insects and tolerant to herbicides. This GMO technology can however also ensure a greater variety of crops, combined with higher yields or built-in disease resistance,” Quinn continues. “Moreover, this technology allows crops to be developed in short time frames that can also grow in unfavourable climatic conditions, such as extreme drought or heat, for instance.” For Marc Van Montagu, the prize means recognition for his contribution to contemporary agriculture and a step towards acceptance of GMO technology as one element in sustainable food production. “The World Food Prize honours achievements that are extremely important for society, and I am therefore much honoured to be able to receive this award,” says Marc Van Montagu, former Director of VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, at Ghent University. “For me, it emphasizes the importance of GMO technology as a contributing factor to sustainable food production. And although I am much honoured, I am well aware that there is still a long way to go before this technology is fully established to produce the orphan crops and varieties essential to food security of smallholder farmers in less developed countries. I hope that this recognition will pave the way for Europe to embrace the benefits of this technology, an essential condition for global acceptance of transgenic plants.”