Dr. Samuel Myers of Harvard University and Solidaridad, an international fair-trade network, are the inaugural winners of the Arrell Global Food Innovation Award. Global leaders in science and community leadership respectively, the recipients are taking innovative approaches to problems that plague the most vulnerable populations on the planet.
Dr. Myers, winner of the research award is the principal research scientist in planetary health, exposure, epidemiology, and risk program in department of Environmental Health at Harvard University, as well as the director of the Planetary Health Alliance, a consortium committed to an emerging field of science focusing on human health’s relationship with the planet’s natural systems. It was Dr. Myers’ leadership in this field of science, as well as his ground-breaking work that determined increased CO2 will result in crops absorbing fewer nutrients such as iron and zinc from the soil, making much of the food on which we rely less nutritious.
Founded in the Netherlands in 1969 as the result of a social movement to provide development aid to Latin America, Solidaridad is now a network of regional expertise centres across the globe that aims to make fair trade possible by developing socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable global supply chains. Winner of the community award, Solidaridad was a founding member of global fair trade label organizations.
“Both of these winners are considering the global food challenges we all face with a holistic perspective,” says Dr. Fraser. “The adjudicators and the Arrell Food Institute were delighted with the number of impressive nominations for these awards, which demonstrates that many are rising to meet the global challenge of food security.”
The awards will be presented at the Arrell Food Summit from May 22-24, 2018. Registration is now open.
