Stefan Schmitz's Biography

Stefan Schmitz joined the Crop Trust as Executive Director in January 2020.

He leads the Crop Trust’s efforts in conserving and making crop diversity available for use globally and is responsible for the development and implementation of the organization’s 2030 Strategy.

Before joining the Crop Trust, he was Deputy Director-General and Commissioner for the “One World – No Hunger” Initiative at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and chaired the Steering Committee of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP).

Stefan studied at the University of Bonn, Germany and the University of St Andrews, UK and completed his doctorate in geoscience at the Free University of Berlin, Germany in 2000.

Stefan is passionate about biodiversity, crop diversity, food security and sustainable food systems.