Agronomist Mariangela Hungria started working with soybeans in the early 1990s, when research on how to improve cultivation of the crop was in its early days. She has worked at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) for 40 years. In 2021, she was named one of the world\u2019s 100 best scientists in plant science and agronomy by Research.com, which compiles international data on scientific contributions in various fields. Hungria is the first scientist from South America to make the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I\u2019m really pleased to be named on the list, it\u2019s important to highlight the lack of Brazilian researchers on it, especially considering the country’s importance in the field of agricultural production,\u201d says Hungria, who specializes in soil biotechnology, an area of study that seeks to improve nutrient uptake by plants, making them more resistant to climate change, pests, and diseases. \u201cOur findings on biological nitrogen fixation are internationally recognized, especially when it comes to soybean production,\u201d she explains. Of the more than 2,000 scientists recognized by the website, only 36 are from Brazil. \u201cThis low number suggests the need for more investment in scientific research in this sector,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
Born in the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, Hungria decided, while still at high school, that she wanted to study a degree in agronomy. \u201cI was really interested in nature and farms, as well as other subjects related to biological sciences, specifically microbiology,\u201d says the researcher, whose teachers were perplexed by her announcement that she wanted to be an agronomist. \u201cAt that time, at least in the capital of S\u00e3o Paulo, agriculture was not seen as having a big future and it was undervalued, in addition to being dominated by men. The school even called my mother in to talk about my choice,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
Certain of her decision, she started her degree at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ) of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) in 1976. During her master’s degree, also studied at ESALQ with funding from FAPESP and concluded in 1981, Hungria investigated the efficiency of biological nitrogen fixation in bean cultivation, a subject she continued to study for her PhD, completed at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) in 1985. \u201cNitrogen fixation is a biological process mediated by bacteria capable of capturing this chemical element from the air, a method that removes the need for nitrogen fertilizers, the production of which is highly damaging to the environment,\u201d she explains. In 1982, she started working as a researcher at EMBRAPA Agrobiology in the city of Serop\u00e9dica, Rio de Janeiro, where she carried out studies on beans.<\/p>\n
In 1991, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Davis, in the USA, Hungria moved to Londrina, Paran\u00e1, and began researching soybeans. \u201cWhen I decided to come here and study soy, I was told there was little work to be done because there were no problems affecting its cultivation,\u201d she says. The warning came from a pioneer in soil biology research, Johanna D\u00f6bereiner (1924\u20132000), with whom Hungria had studied a specialist diploma at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) some years earlier. \u201cD\u00f6bereiner was a wonderful mentor, and it was she who invited me to work at EMBRAPA,\u201d she recalls. \u201cBut contrary to what she had said, I realized there was a lot to be done, so much so that the various studies we have carried out since then have enabled a great leap in productivity of soybean crops in the country,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researcher from S\u00e3o Paulo named on international list of best plant science and agronomy scientists","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":463707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1204],"tags":[1637],"coauthors":[2477],"class_list":["post-463677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","tag-agriculture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463678,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463677\/revisions\/463678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463677"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=463677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}