World Food Prize Foundation

Choosing the right programme

• The Innovate for Impact Challenge is the only programme on this page aimed at startups. It is for early-stage, for-profit AgTech companies.
• The Youth Institutes, the Global Youth Institute and the Borlaug-Ruan internship are for students.
• The Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application is for professionals under 40, by nomination.

How applications work

• Innovate for Impact: applications for the 2026 round closed on 15 April 2026. Questions go to innovate4impact@worldfoodprize.org.
• Exhibitor booths and side events at the Borlaug Dialogue: send questions to dialogues@worldfoodprize.org.
• Iowa Youth Institute: the registration and paper deadline is 24 March 2027, for the event on 7 April 2027.
• Borlaug-Ruan International Internship: applications for 2027 have not opened yet.
• USDA Wallace-Carver Fellowship: applications are closed until further notice.

How selection works

• Innovate for Impact: the top three startups are announced in August. Finalists present their solutions at the Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines in October.
• Global Youth Institute: delegates are selected through a state or national Youth Institute.

Check the internship age rule

• The internship page says applicants must be 17 or older on 1 June 2027.
• The application page says applicants must be between 17 and 20 on that date.
• The two pages do not agree, so read both before you apply.

What reviewers look for

• Innovate for Impact looks for early-stage, tech-driven startups whose solutions address global food security and sustainability.

The World Food Prize Foundation is based in Des Moines, Iowa. It runs the World Food Prize, an annual award for work that improves the world’s food supply, along with an AgTech challenge for early-stage startups and a set of youth programmes on food security. Its pages describe the Prize as often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.”

Who founded it

Its history page credits Norman Borlaug with founding The World Food Prize in 1986. Its about page says the Foundation was initially sponsored and formed by John Ruan, Sr., with support from the Governor and State Legislature of Iowa, and that Mr. Ruan endowed the Prize and relocated it to Des Moines in 1990. The two pages describe the founding differently. The Foundation’s own description dates its founding to 1986.

How its programmes work

The Foundation’s programmes fall into three groups: an AgTech challenge for startups, awards for individuals, and youth education.

The Innovate for Impact Challenge is run with America’s Cultivation Corridor for early-stage, for-profit AgTech startups whose solutions address food security and sustainability. The top three startups are announced in August, and finalists present their solutions at the Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines in October. Applications for the 2026 round closed on 15 April 2026.

The awards for individuals are the World Food Prize, presented each October on or around UN World Food Day (16 October) at the Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue, and the Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, for professionals under 40. Both are given by nomination.

The youth programmes include the Global Youth Institute, a three-day academic conference in Des Moines each October; the Youth Institutes, which the Foundation co-hosts with agricultural universities; the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship; and the USDA Wallace-Carver Fellowship, which is closed until further notice.

Who can apply

Startups can apply to the Innovate for Impact Challenge if they are early-stage, for-profit and work in AgTech. Students take part in a Youth Institute by writing a research paper on a country and a food-security topic. High-school students selected as delegates from a Youth Institute can attend the Global Youth Institute. The Borlaug-Ruan internship is open to students with a link to a Foundation programme, and its pages give two different age rules, set out in its programme entry. Individual awards are made by nomination only. A World Food Prize nominee must be living and able to attend the ceremony.

Scale

The figures on this page come from the Foundation’s own pages and are self-reported, not audited. Its pages say its youth programmes have engaged more than 10,000 students worldwide, and that more than 2,000 students present research at Youth Institutes each year. Nearly 4,000 student delegates have attended the Global Youth Institute since 1994. Over 4,000 Iowa high-school students have taken part in the Iowa Youth Institute, and the Borlaug-Ruan internship has placed 460 students since 1998. The Foundation expects the Borlaug Dialogue to draw over 1,500 food and agricultural leaders. According to its about page, more than 80 companies, foundations and individuals support the Foundation.

The Global Challenge curriculum

The Global Challenge is the Foundation’s educational curriculum on global food insecurity, agriculture and sustainability. Students research and write a paper and develop solutions to some of the world’s most critical issues. Its pages say over 10,000 students across the world engage with the curriculum each year.

Locations

The Foundation’s address is 100 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa. Its Youth Institutes run in Honduras, Kenya, the Netherlands, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Iowa Youth Institute is held in Ames, and the Florida Youth Institute in Gainesville, Florida. The Borlaug-Ruan internship places students at research organisations in countries including India, Brazil, Kenya and China.