Women in Ag Award 2026: Announcement of Winners

DLG (German Agricultural Society) and Women in Ag Magazine have announced the winners of this year’s Women in Ag Award. The announcement comes in a year of particular significance, with the United Nations declaring 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 (IYWF 2026), an initiative aimed at increasing the visibility of women’s achievements in agriculture worldwide and highlighting their central role in the sector. Now in its fifth year, the Women in Ag Award supports this objective by recognising women who have made outstanding contributions to the development of local, national and international agriculture. The award is presented in four categories: Farming, Agribusiness, Education, and Technology & Research.

The award ceremony will take place at EuroTier, the world’s leading trade fair for professional animal farming and livestock management, on 11 November 2026 at 16:00 CET at the DLG stand in Hall 13 in Hanover, Germany. Following the ceremony, the Female Agri Fellows networking event will take place at 17:00 CET. Female Agri Fellows is an international network for women in agriculture founded by DLG.

The Women in Ag Award is presented by an international jury and recognises the achievements of women working in agriculture, agribusiness, and in schools, universities, research institutions, media, and organizations within the agricultural sector. More than 170 women from 62 countries applied for this year's award.

In each of the four categories, a first, second, and third prize is awarded. In the Technology & Research category, two candidates were selected for third place this year.

Category: Farming

1st Place: Marianne van den Hoek-Huijbregts, Netherlands
Marianne van den Hoek-Huijbregts is a Dutch arable farmer, freshwater innovator, and advocate for sustainable agriculture. Together with her husband, she manages a 220-hectare family farm on Schouwen-Duiveland, where salinization and water scarcity threaten food production. Determined to secure the farm’s future, she developed Freshwater Focus, the first fully operational farmer-initiated Aquifer Storage & Recovery system in Dutch arable farming.

2nd Place: Lavender Odeny, Kenya
Lavender Odeny is a Kenyan agribusiness entrepreneur and founder of MashLav Foods. She is pioneering commercial mushroom farming in Kilifi County, a semi-arid coastal region where mushroom production was once considered unviable.

3rd Place: Marlen Arkesteijn, Netherlands
Marlen Arkesteijn is a Dutch city farmer, rural sociologist, and founder of Tuinderij de Stadsboerin, an ecological urban farm in Rotterdam. Since 2018, she has grown pesticide-free vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruit for more than 150 local households through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model.

Category: Agribusiness

1st Place: Ifeoma Okonkwo, Nigeria
Ifeoma Oluchukwu Mary Okonkwo is a Nigerian agripreneur and Co-Founder & Group Managing Director of Ifgreen Industries & Investment Ltd, a company transforming indigenous crops into nutritious food products while creating sustainable livelihoods.

2nd Place: Nakalema Assumpta, Uganda
Nakalema Ann Assumpta is a Ugandan IT engineer, agritech innovator, and founder of HatchRite Co. Ltd, a company dedicated to making poultry farming more accessible, productive, and sustainable. She developed locally manufactured poultry incubators and brooding systems to help smallholder farmers overcome barriers to reliable chick production while strengthening local manufacturing capacity.

3rd Place: Valentyna Bolokhovska, Ukraine
Valentyna Bolokhovska is a biotechnology pioneer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of BTU, one of Ukraine’s leading producers of biological solutions for agriculture. With more than 50 years of experience, she has dedicated her career to transforming biotechnology from scientific research into practical, scalable solutions for farmers.

Category: Education

1st Place: Valeriya Yudina, Kazakhstan
Valeriya Yudina is an education and talent-development leader with more than 30 years of experience, she is dedicated to building the next generation of agricultural professionals. By transforming Digital Agroleaders from a student competition into a comprehensive educational ecosystem, she brings together students, universities, employers, technology companies, and industry experts to address the agricultural sector’s growing talent shortage.

2nd Place: Sharon Monethi, South Africa
Sharon Monethi is a sustainability advocate, social entrepreneur, and agricultural development leader dedicated to empowering women, youth, and underserved communities through innovative farming solutions. As founder of the Woman of Age Foundation and Chairperson of the Women and Food Fellowship, she has led initiatives that promote livelihoods, entrepreneurship, and food security across Africa. Her flagship innovation, the Hydro Coop farming model, combines hydroponic crop production with cooperative enterprise development, enabling women to grow food and generate income even where access to land is limited.

3rd Place: María Blanco, Colombia
María Blanco is a veterinarian and rural development specialist from Colombia. She has spent more than 30 years demonstrating how agriculture can drive environmental restoration, community development, and cultural preservation. As co-founder and Executive Director of the El Porvenir Ecological Foundation, she has led the restoration of cloud forests, protected vital water sources, and educated more than one million visitors on biodiversity and sustainable land management.

Category: Technology & Research

1st Place: Katharina Unger, Austria
Katharina Unger is an industrial designer, entrepreneur, and founder & CEO of LIVIN farms, she has dedicated more than a decade to advancing circular agriculture through insect-based technologies. By harnessing insects’ natural ability to transform organic by-products into valuable protein, oil, and organic fertilizer, she has helped pioneer a new approach to sustainable food production.

2nd Place: Dong Xiaoxia, People’s Republic of China
Dong Xiaoxia is a researcher and innovation leader at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, with nearly 20 years of experience advancing sustainable dairy systems, digital agriculture, and livestock economics. She has led more than 60 research projects focused on improving the economic, environmental, and technological performance of dairy production.

3rd Place: Mirjam Lechner, Germany
Raised on a pig farm in Bavaria, Mirjam Lechner has dedicated more than 16 years to improving animal health, animal welfare, and sustainability in livestock farming. Working at the intersection of research, technology, and agricultural practice, she helped identify and advance understanding of Swine Inflammation and Necrosis Syndrome (SINS), a significant health challenge in pigs and cattle.

3rd Place: Amna Shoaib, Pakistan
Professor Amna Shoaib is a plant pathologist, researcher, and academic leader at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan, dedicated to advancing sustainable agriculture through biological crop protection. With more than two decades of experience, she develops science-based alternatives to chemical pesticides, including biofungicides, beneficial microbial consortia, and innovative delivery technologies that enhance plant health and resilience.