The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) awarded the prestigious 2020 Sukup Global Food Security Award to Dr. Dirk E. Maier. He is a world renowned Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Professor at Iowa State University and Director of the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction. Dr. Maier was recognized at ASABE’s annual international meeting for his career devoted to enhancing food and nutrition security worldwide through development and delivery of innovative engineering scholarship focused on stored product protection.

Dr. Maier is an ASABE Fellow and has been a member for 34 years. The award recognized that his Consortium initiative has enhanced the national and international reputation of Iowa State University as a leader in global food and nutrition security. The Consortium is developing practical approaches to measure value chain loss and waste, increase efficiencies in the global food system to sustainably preserve nutrients, and achieve sustained, scalable implementation of appropriate technologies to preserve, process, package and transport nutritious foods.

Additionally, Maier leads an internationally-recognized research and outreach program in post-harvest engineering and technology applied to grain and feed operations and processing. He directs the international outreach efforts of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative. That initiative focuses on enhancing the market preference, consumption, and utilization of Iowa and US corn, soybeans, and their value-added products for the global grain and feed industry.

ASABE Sukup Global Food Security Award Web Page