For his PhD thesis, which was supervised by Hong Yang, Wenfeng developed a grid-based plant growth model which he then applied on a global scale. The model serves as a basis for researching management options for ensuring food security for the world’s growing population while keeping environmental costs and the use of fertilisers and water to a minimum. Wenfeng’s primary focus was on the development of strategies for efficient intensification of agriculture and of global trading of foodstuffs.

Wenfeng Liu received the Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize 2018 at the official ceremony on 17 November 2018.