Nearly two-thirds of the world’s food supply is comprised of three crops – maize, rice and wheat. Yet, there are over 50,000 known edible plant species. To accelerate development of underutilized crops the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), with funding from RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC), launched the Harvest for Health Challenge and are providing research and application criteria for the upcoming $1 million challenge.
The Harvest for Health Breakthrough Crop Challenge includes two distinct parts. In spring 2023, FFAR awarded $216,460 in funding during the initial seed funding part to develop predictive models that can determine a crop’s potential as a source of selected functional properties.
To further accelerate underutilized crops, the Harvest for Health Breakthrough Crop Challenge is entering the predictive model development and validation part, which offers up to $1 million for a predictive model that effectively identifies underutilized crops that have potential functional properties of interest to the food industry. Participating in the seed funding part is not a requirement for applying to the predictive model development and validation part. The winning model will be used to prioritize crops for commercial development.
FFAR is hosting an informational webinar on October 3, 2023, at noon EDT to provide additional details about the application criteria. Attendees must register to attend the webinar.