Dryland Crops in Africa and Asia Get a Boost From Crop Trust and Germany
Agriculture in drought-prone regions took a major step forward when the Crop Trust and Germany’s federal government provided much-needed support for an international agricultural research institute focused on the drylands of...
7 Jan 2025
Darwin Initiative: Sweetpotato Project Strengthens Communities
The Crop Trust is coordinating the Sweetpotato, a model for food security and long-term conservation of biodiversity project. The Sweetpotato project is featured in the Darwin Initiative’s latest newsletter, Local Learnings from...
13 Dec 2024
Crop Diversity: A Solution for Today’s Hunger Crisis and Food Security Tomorrow
The world is facing three major food challenges, all at the same time. We need to produce more food, significantly improve its quality, and ensure that everyone has access to it.
Food security for all is the challenge of the 21st...
11 Dec 2024
Brewing a Future: Crop Trust and Germany Safeguard Costa Rica's Coffee Heritage
Recently, the world woke up to a collection of coffee at risk. The genebank at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica houses nearly 2,000 coffee varieties. Established 75...
3 Dec 2024
Alta Sierra Alfalfa Gives High Hopes to Farmers in the Atacama Desert and Beyond
“Alfalfa is what our livelihoods depend on, what our animals eat. It is important for my family now, and it was for former generations – double the value,” says Mauricio Moyo, a smallholder farmer in the Putre region of Chile’s At...
27 Nov 2024
The Guardian: Not Just A Museum
A recent article by The Guardian underscores the important role of national genebanks in supporting farmers to adapt to climate challenges. Focusing on the Genetic Resources Research Institute (GeRRI) in Kenya, the piece explores...
31 Oct 2024
The New York Times: The World’s Doomsday Plant Vault Gets Thousands of New Seeds
The world’s seed savers are racing to safeguard the world’s crop diversity in “the world’s doomsday garden shed,” writes Amelia Nierenberg in her The New York Times report of the final 2024 depositor event at the Svalbard Global...
29 Oct 2024
Crop Chronicles Podcast: Barley - Beyond Bread and Beer
In this episode of Crop Chronicles podcast, we journey to Morocco to explore the fascinating story of barley—a resilient crop that has sustained civilizations for millennia. Host Conrad introduces us to scientists Anna...
11 Oct 2024
IRRI Launches New IRG Collection to Accelerate Linking Trait Discovery with Breeding
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has introduced a new Released Variety Panel (RVP), a collection of over 130 sequenced rice varieties. This panel is accessible to breeders and researchers for trait discovery and...
8 Oct 2024
El País: Wild Wheat - The Key to Food Security in a Warming World
Farmers have saved a billion liters of fungicide through disease-resistant wheat varieties, which owe their resilience to genes from wild relatives. However, climate change and evolving pathogens require further research into...
30 Sep 2024