Pam Ronald Wins Wolf Prize in Agriculture
Plant Geneticist Awarded for Work in Global Rice Sustainability
Quick Summary
- 1st woman among 6 UC Davis scientists to receive the prize
- Foundation honors “achievements in the interest of mankind”
- New rice varieties can withstand flooding and produce more
UC Davis plant geneticist Pam Ronald has been named the recipient of the 2022 International Wolf Prize in Agriculture, given by the Jerusalem-based Wolf Foundation in recognition of her “pioneering work on disease resistance and environmental stress tolerance in rice.”
She is the first woman among six UC Davis scientists to receive the Wolf Prize in Agriculture. The foundation has been giving its $100,000 prizes in agriculture and other disciplines since 1978, honoring scientists and artists from around the world “for their achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations amongst peoples.” This year the foundation gave multiple prizes in chemistry, physics and architecture, and single awards in mathematics, music and agriculture.
Ronald is a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, having joined the faculty in 1992, and is also affiliated with the UC Davis Genome Center and the Physical Biosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The Wolf Foundation noted her work isolating a gene that allows rice to survive two weeks of flooding and increases yield by 60% compared to conventional varieties. “Her discoveries show an advanced understanding of fundamental biological processes and enhance sustainable agriculture and food security,” the foundation said in its announcement of her prize.
Flood-tolerant rice varieties are now grown by more than 6 million subsistence farmers in India and Bangladesh. The committee noted that those two countries lose more than 4 million tons of rice each year to flooding, enough to feed 30 million people.