From the humblest of beginnings to the pinnacle of scientific acclaim, Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, an agronomy professor, plant breeder and geneticist who is a native of Ethiopia, is the winner of the 2009 World Food Prize. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was the featured speaker as Ejeta was announced as the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State June 11 in Washington, D.C.  The ceremony also featured U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, along with World Food Prize President Ambassador Kenneth Quinn and World Food Prize Chairman John Ruan III, among others. Ejeta won the $250,000 World Food Prize for his monumental contributions in the production of sorghum, one of the world's five principal cereal grains, which have dramatically enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.