preloader animation

Fast Tracking Climate Solutions from Global Germplasm Banks

Generating Next Generation Crops Solutions
Generating Next Generation Crops Solutions

Program Contact

Dr. Angela Records
arecords@foundationfar.org

Dr. Sarah Hearne

CIMMYT

Year Awarded  2022

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $11,500,000

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

  • Next Generation Crops

Preventing Food Insecurity

The most dangerous impact of climate change is the disruption of global agriculture and food systems through disasters such as drought, heat and flooding. These disruptions, including decreased agricultural production and reduced harvests, are hardest on the approximately half a billion smallholder farmers living on less than two dollars a day.

Individual farms, including smallholder farms, make up a majority of the world’s farmers and producers. Losses on these farms due to climate change have a ripple effect on the global food supply, increasing food costs and worsening food insecurity and malnutrition.

Equipping farmers with crops that can withstand environmental extremes is essential. CGIAR, the world’s largest public-sector agriculture research partnership, holds around 10 percent of the worldwide germplasm (seeds and other genetic material) in banks across the globe. This rich supply of germplasm is key to developing new crop varieties adapted to the stresses of climate change, and scientists have already developed critical traits using them. However, climate-adaptive breeding has been inefficient, costly and underleveraged.

This initiative, led by CGIAR, advances transformative approaches to expand the use of genetic diversity from germplasm banks, ultimately developing new climate-smart crop varieties for millions of smallholder farmers worldwide.

Why this research is important

The development and cultivation of new crop varieties that stabilize and improve productivity during increasingly volatile cropping seasons are critical to helping farmers adapt to climate change. The benefits of this initiative include:

  • Climate-resilient crops decrease loss and increase profit for farmers, in particular smallholder farmers lacking the funds and technology to respond to climate disruptions.
  • A steady and reliable supply of improved crop varieties secures the harvest and reduces food insecurity for consumers.
  • Newly developed varieties may also be more nutritious, lowering rates of malnutrition.
  • Researchers and breeders have access to new tools and knowledge that adapt crops to humanity’s needs.

Details About this Research

This initiative expands CGIAR and other organizations’ crop improvement research by strengthening the identification of high-value genetic diversity from germplasm collections and more efficiently leveraging this diversity to develop new varieties of climate-resilient crops.

This research was included in the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate’s (AIM for Climate) announcement at the UN Conference of the Parties (COP26) to accelerate support for existing climate-smart agriculture research and innovation. AIM for Climate is a joint initiative between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. By increasing and accelerating investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation, AIM for Climate is addressing the climate crisis.

The Latest

Insights

Our Insights highlight unique perspectives from across for food and agriculture community.

See all Insights

Building Team Chemistry: The Bigger Picture Behind Cows & Climate

Conor McCabe headshot

Conor McCabe

Animal Biology Graduate Student, UC Davis

Insight on Livestock Methane Mitigation

Dr. Rod Mackie, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Champaign, IL

Finding a New Way to Control Weeds in Cotton.

Sarah Chu

Sarah Chu

FFAR Fellow, Texas A&M University

Indigenous Farmers are Leading a “New Green Revolution” Focused on Hemp

James DeDecker, Director, Michigan State University – Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center Mary Donner, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians – Ziibimijwang Farm Executive Director and Tribal Citizen

The Algae-rithm of Sustainable Agriculture: Can Algae Replace Harmful Pesticides and Fertilizers?

Mira Conyers

Meeting Producers Where They Are: A Farmer-Centered Approach to Understanding the Needs of Historically Underserved

Amy Cole

Amy Skoczlas Cole

President of Trust In Food

Protecting the Vidalia Onion

Sujan Paudel

FFAR Fellow

Sustainable Agriculture & Supply Chain Equity

Philippa Lockwood

Clif Bar Program Manager

Irrigation’s Role in Ensuring Global Food Security

Luke Reynolds

Irrigation Association

A Biomass Carol: Bioenergy for The Future

Ekramul Ehite

FFAR Fellow, University of Tennessee-Knoxville

The “Good Soil Discount” — A Game Changer for U.S. Agriculture

Harley Cross

Harley Cross

Land Core Co-founder & Director of Strategy

Illuminating Pest Management with the Help of the Washington State Wine Commission

Alexa McDaniel

FFAR Fellow, Washington State University

Partner Profile: FMC

Julie DiNatale Headshot

Julie DiNatale

FMC vice president and chief sustainability officer

Global Agriculture Leaders See How Maryland Farmers Use Land-based Tools to Benefit Waterways

Ernie Shea

President, Solutions from the Land

FFAR Vet Student Fellow Research Spotlight

Anna Schaubeck

2021 FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellow

Celebrating Innovation on National Egg Day

Paul Montgomery

Paul Montgomery

Director of Communications, United Egg Producers

Partner Profile: Regrow

Dr. Bill Salas

Organic Ag Podcast Features Innovative Industry Topics

Kathleen Delate

Professor, Organic Agriculture Program, Iowa State University 

Going Nuts: Nut Crops as Climate Resilient Protein Alternatives for the Future

Matt Davis

University of California, Davis

News

The latest news and updates from FFAR.

See all News

Developing Smart Breeding Methods to Increase Crop Resilience

$16 Million Grant Increases Crop Yields, Improves Sustainability & Profitability

ICASA Awards Grants to Address Antimicrobial Resistance in Cattle & Swine

FFAR Applauds President Biden & Congressional Leadership on Passing a Farm Bill Extension

Scientists Unite to Combat Fusarium Wilt in Cotton

Increasing Drought Tolerance in Rice

FFAR Grant Protects Wheat Yields from Wheat Stem Sawfly

GroundBreaker Prize to Fund Critical Water Research

Improving Yields & Traits in US Hemp Crops

Researchers Investigate the Promise of Food Procurement

Working with Farmers to Increase Adoption of Water Conservation Practices

AgMission Grant to Optimize OpTIS, Remote Sensing Tool to Improve Soil Health

Cattle Industry Consortium Funds Research Aimed at Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions

SHIC Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program Funds Additional Research

FFAR Renews ESMC Partnership to Grow Ecosystem Services Market Program 

Improving Layer Hen Welfare with Better Bone Health

FFAR and North Carolina State University Announce 2023 FFAR Fellows

FFAR Grant Combats Disease in Lettuce Crops

Cattle Industry Consortium Awards First Grant to Curb Enteric Methane Emissions

New Falling Number Test Prevents Wheat Contamination, Saves Farmers Millions

Breakthroughs

Tools, technologies and strategies from the research we fund.

See all Breakthroughs

Documenting Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing’s Benefits

Breakthrough for Quantifying the Advantages of Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing Compared to Conventional Continuous Grazing in the U.S. Southeast & Northern Great Plains

Research Pinpoints Why Dairy Cows Produce Less Milk in Warm Weather and Develops Nutrition-Based Solution

Breakthrough for FFAR Grant Helps Heat-Stressed Dairy Cows Weather Increasing Temperatures

Accelerating Crop Development with Improved Haploid Fertility

Breakthrough for Accelerated Development of Crops of the Future

Emergency Food Provision for Children & Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Breakthrough for Integrating Community and Modeling Efforts to Evaluate Impacts and Tradeoffs of Food System Interventions

National Academies Report on Interventions to Reduce Consumer Food Waste

Breakthrough for Understanding & Reducing Consumer Food Waste

Pipestone Researchers Find Feed Additives Stop Viral Disease Spread

Breakthrough for FFAR-Funded Research Finds Feed Additives Stop the Spread of Viral Diseases

Launch of Eco-Harvest, a program rewarding producers for regenerative agriculture practices

Breakthrough for Ecosystem Services Market Research Consortium

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030

Breakthrough for Breakthroughs 2030 Report Identifies New Scientific Strategy to Transform US Agriculture

Radiography could transform poultry breeding

Breakthrough for FFAR Awards $1.4 Million to Purdue University, University of California, Davis and University of Edinburgh Researchers to Improve Health and Productivity of Egg-Laying Hens

The Irrigation Innovation Consortium & Parallel 41 Network: Building a path to data-driven management

Initial Success Achieved in Ending Surgical Castration of Swine

Breakthrough for FFAR Awards $500,000 Grant to Improve Swine Health and Well-Being

Combatting Fastidious Pathogens: Getting to the Root of the Problem

RIPE Researchers Prove Bioengineering Better Photosynthesis Increases Yields in Food Crops for the First Time

Breakthrough for Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Reinvestment

Groundwater Fluctuations Impact Grain Yields

Breakthrough for FFAR Awards $2.4 Million to Eight Early-Career Research Faculty Members for Innovative Research Projects

Want to do more to support our pioneering research?