Dr. Mariangela Hungria stands as one of the most transformative figures in modern agriculture. Her recognition with the 2025 World Food Prize, often called the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture” is not just deserved; it’s a wake-up call for the entire world to rethink how we grow food.
This brilliant Brazilian microbiologist, a senior researcher at Embrapa Soja (the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation’s National Soybean Center), has dedicated over 40 years to harnessing the power of soil microbiology, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), and microbial inoculants to slash reliance on synthetic fertilizers.
In an era where chemical inputs drive up costs, degrade soils, pollute waterways, and contribute massively to greenhouse gas emissions, Hungria’s work proves that nature’s own mechanisms, when smartly amplified can outperform industrial solutions while healing the planet.
Conventional agriculture’s heavy dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers is unsustainable. These fertilizers, derived from the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, cost farmers dearly, leach into rivers causing dead zones, and release nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas.
Hungria challenged this paradigm head-on. Starting under the influence of legendary scientist Johanna Döbereiner, she isolated and optimized strains of beneficial bacteria like rhizobia (which form symbiotic nodules with legumes to fix atmospheric nitrogen) and Azospirillum brasilense (a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium that enhances root development, nutrient uptake, and hormone production).
Developing practical, low-cost microbial inoculants, seed treatments or soil applications containing these live bacteria. These inoculants cost farmers as little as $2 per hectare in many cases, yet they enable crops to access free nitrogen from the air (up to 200-300 kg N/ha in well-managed systems for soybeans).
For legumes like soybeans and common beans, rhizobial inoculation can fully replace nitrogen fertilizer needs. For non-legumes like maize, wheat, rice, and pastures, combining Azospirillum with other practices boosts yields by improving root systems and nutrient efficiency, often reducing synthetic inputs by 20-50% or more.
The scale of impact is staggering, and her contributions rank among the greatest in agricultural history. In Brazil alone, her technologies cover tens of millions of hectares—estimates range from 40 million+ hectares for various crops.
Soybean production, Brazil’s flagship export, exploded from about 15 million tons in the late 1970s to projected records exceeding 170 million tons in recent seasons. A massive portion of that success traces back to widespread adoption of BNF and coinoculation (rhizobia + Azospirillum), which Hungria pioneered and refined.Economically, the savings are mind-blowing.
Brazilian farmers avoid $25 billion to $40 billion annually in fertilizer costs, depending on the source and year, figures backed by studies from Embrapa and independent analyses.
One peer-reviewed paper estimated $15.2 billion saved in a single 2019-2020 soybean season from replacing urea with BNF, plus additional profits from higher yields.
Globally, as these microbial inoculants spread to Latin America, Africa, and Asia, the potential multiplies.
Environmentally, it’s even more compelling. By minimizing synthetic nitrogen use, her innovations prevent enormous emissions—around 180-230 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent annually in Brazil, equivalent to taking millions of cars off the road or generating billions in carbon credits.
Soil health improves too: microbial activity restores organic matter, enhances structure, reduces erosion, and builds resilience against drought and pests. This isn’t greenwashing; it’s measurable regenerative agriculture that increases productivity while regenerating degraded tropical soils.
What makes Hungria’s story so inspiring to me is its grounded, practical genius. She didn’t chase hype or corporate patents (though public-private partnerships helped scale products). Working in public research, she released over 30 technologies, including the first Azospirillum inoculant for grasses (boosting pasture biomass by 22% for better livestock feed), coinoculation protocols doubling soybean yield gains, and formulations for wheat, maize, beans, and rice.
Her lab-to-field pipeline, isolating strains, testing in greenhouses and plots, ensuring shelf-life stability, and partnering for commercialization set a gold standard for sustainable agriculture innovation from the Global South.
As the first Brazilian and one of few Latin American women to win the World Food Prize (a $500,000 award), she symbolizes progress in diversity too. In speeches and interviews, she credits mentorship, teamwork, and belief in women leading future agriculture. Her accolades, Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit, TWAS-Lenovo Award, membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and more reflect decades of excellence, with over 500 publications, 34,000+ citations, and supervision of hundreds of students.
Hungria’s “MicroGreen Revolution” offers the most viable blueprint for feeding a growing world amid climate chaos. Fertilizer prices swing wildly with energy costs and geopolitics; microbes don’t. They democratize high yields for smallholders in poor soils.
As soil degradation affects 33% of global land and food security faces threats from population growth to extreme weather, scaling biological nitrogen fixation, plant growth-promoting bacteria, and microbial inoculants must become priority one.
Critics might say microbial efficacy varies by soil type, climate, or strain competition, but Hungria’s rigorous, region-specific research addressed that, proving reliability in tropical conditions where synthetics often fail. Skepticism about full replacement ignores the evidence: in Brazil, many farmers now inoculate without nitrogen fertilizer on soybeans and see superior results.
We need more scientists like her, passionate, persistent, and focused on biology over chemistry. Governments should fund public microbial research; companies should prioritize bio-inputs; farmers should adopt inoculants as standard.
Hungria didn’t just save billions, she showed that sustainable, high-yield farming is possible without wrecking the Earth.
If we embrace this mindset globally, agriculture could shift from extractive to regenerative. Dr. Mariangela Hungria isn’t just a laureate; she’s a pioneer whose legacy will feed generations while restoring our soils.
In a world desperate for real solutions, her work is hope in microbial form.
Naorem Mohen is the Editor of Signpost News. Explore his views and opinion on X: @laimacha.
Naorem Mohen
View More PostsNaorem Mohen is the Editor of Signpost News. Explore his views and opinion on X: @laimacha.
