(Radio Iowa) – The woman who won the Iowa-based World Food Prize last fall has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Heidi Kuhn founded a non-profit called Roots of Peace in 1997. It works to remove landmines and restore ground ravaged by war so it can be used as agland. The head of a group in Azerbaijan nominated Kuhn for the Nobel Peace Price. Kuhn recently visited the country to launch a pilot project to clear an estimated one-and-a-half million landmines and revive an area where vineyards used to flourish.

Norman Borlaug, a Cresco native who was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in improving crop production and he helped found the World Food Prize 38 years ago. At last October’s World Food Prize ceremony in Des Moines, Kuhn said she intended to use the half a million dollars that came with the award to work on removing landmines in Ukraine. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced next October.

Heidi Kuhn. (Roots of Peace photo)