Crops of the Future Collaborative

The Crops of the Future Collaborative advances discoveries in ways not possible in the past. Scientific breakthroughs allow scientists to sequence crop genomes and understand how specific genes translate into traits that help plants thrive in the field. The Collaborative builds on these breakthroughs to meet future demands on the food system.

Crops of the Future Collaborative’s Pioneering Research Focus

The Crops of the Future Collaborative research yields the traits needed to meet global nutritional demands in a changing environment by focusing on four key areas:

Crop resilience
Crop diversity
Cross-crop technologies
Market development for new crops

Our initial research projects focus on maize, leafy greens, wheat and small grains.

Keeping Farmers Competitive

Keeping farmers competitive and profitable requires developing products at an unprecedented pace. Yet, research and development can be financially risky. With industry consolidation, companies are facing greater investment in commercialization over research. This trend makes it challenging and expensive for companies to independently maintain cost-competitive research programs.

However, participation in research consortia allows companies to effectively address these issues. Crops of the Future Collaborative participants collectively explore multiple areas of research based on a common need while minimizing risk prior to pursuing the research internally. We established this Collaborative to address significant research gaps common across the industry.

The Collaborative develops resilient crops with genes and traits that allow them to thrive despite pests, pathogens and extreme weather. Additionally, the research focuses on increasing crop diversity and developing crops with higher nutritional content.

We provided Crops of the Future an initial $10 million investment, which the Collaborative participants matched for a total investment of $20 million to further crop science. Collaborative participants jointly define the research issues, pool resources and knowledge and use the research outcomes to compete in the marketplace.

Crops of the Future Collaborative Vision

The Crops of the Future Collaborative accelerates our ability to develop the crops that benefit humanity now and in the future by increasing our understanding of the relationship between traits, genes and the environment.

Crops of the Future Participants

Crops of the Future convenes companies and global research organizations working to develop crop varieties that address food and agriculture challenges. The diverse participants represent many aspects of the agriculture industry, including seed companies, technology companies and other stakeholders from the value chain.

We welcome new participants interested in pooling resources to develop a common vision to address big challenges facing agriculture. The participants include BASF, Bayer, Bejo Zaden, CIMMYT, Corteva Agriscience, Cotton Incorporated, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Enza Zaden, Gautier Semences, Inari, KeyGene, KWS, MARS, Michigan State University, Rijk Zwaan, Sakata Seed, Syngenta, Takii Seed, Tanimura and Antle, and Vilmorin-Mikado.