Frontiers Planet Prize Honors Work on Benefits of Agricultural Diversification

Three International Champions of the 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize received $1 million each to accelerate their breakthrough research. Dr Zia Mehrabi, based at the University of Colorado Boulder, was one of the winners for a landmark study, Joint Environmental and Social Benefits from Diversified Agriculture, that brought together more than 50 researchers and thousands of farmers across 11 countries and five continents. This study, published in the journal Science, offers the first cross-cultural evidence that diversified farming systems can reduce environmental harm, strengthen rural livelihoods, and help agriculture operate within planetary boundaries. “[D]iversification represents a significant, tangible, and policy-relevant step towards achieving more sustainable food systems globally: one not just grounded in theory or anecdotes, but supported by rich data,” wrote Dr. Mehrabi in his thought piece, A More Diverse Agriculture for the Future of Our Planet.