Foundation Funds Efforts to Rescue 95 Percent of Endangered Crop Biodiversity | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

ROME -- Recognizing that the fight against hunger cannot be won without securing fast-disappearing crop biodiversity, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and its partner the United Nations Foundation announced today a joint initiative to safeguard 21 of the world’s most critical food crops through securing their seeds. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the initiative with a US$37.5 million grant, the largest crop biodiversity preservation grant ever made, which includes US$7.5 million in matching funds from the government of Norway. Among the crops covered are many “orphan crops” – crops particularly important to the poor but largely neglected by modern plant breeding, despite the need for high-yielding, nutritious varieties.

To read the full press release, visit the Global Crop Diversity Trust web site.