In an early phase of her career, Anna Herforth helped lay the foundation for what became nutrition-sensitive agriculture—a new approach linking food production with human nutrition. Beginning around 2010, she co-founded the Agriculture-Nutrition Community of Practice (Ag2Nut) to unite experts across sectors who believed agriculture could nourish, not just feed, people. Under her leadership, Ag2Nut grew from a handful of members into a global network of more than 9,000 professionals. Through broad consultation, she led the development of the Key Recommendations for Improving Nutrition through Agriculture and Food Systems, later adopted by FAO and reflected in major donor strategies. This work created the common language and vision that now underpin global efforts to align agriculture and nutrition.

Building on that foundation, Anna Herforth led the creation of practical tools to measure what had long been discussed only in theory: the quality and affordability of diets. Beginning in 2015, she directed major international collaborations to develop indicators such as the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD) and the Diet Quality Questionnaire (DQQ)—now used in national surveys across nearly 100 countries. These tools gave researchers, governments, and global organizations the ability to track diet quality in ways that are simple, standardized, and meaningful. Through this work, Anna transformed broad aspirations about healthy, sustainable diets into concrete, evidence-based metrics that guide global action.

In recent years, Anna has focused on ensuring these innovations drive real-world change. Working with the FAO, World Bank, and WHO, she has helped embed new diet indicators into the Sustainable Development Goals and national food monitoring systems. Through initiatives such as the Global Diet Quality Project, Food Prices for Nutrition, and the World Food Map, her work now supports countries in using data to shape food and agriculture policy. This phase represents the full realization of her vision—tools and partnerships that enable the world to measure, understand, and improve access to healthy diets for all.