WASHINGTON, July 5, 2017 - The Foundation for Food and Agriculture has joined with Bayer, Precision Plant Sciences and several other companies and organizations to launch the Crops of the Future Collaborative, a consortium that will accelerate crop breeding to meet global food demand up to 50 years in the future.
FFAR says its initial $10 million commitment is expected to leverage significant additional investment from partners. The Collaborative aims to accelerate crop breeding through an innovative public-private model that pools proprietary knowledge, financial resources, and technology to carry out crop-specific research initially focusing on maize, leafy greens and wheat and small grains. FFAR, authorized in the 2014 farm bill, says the consortium will hone in on how a crop’s genetic information can yield traits needed to meet nutritional demands in a changing environment with the world’s population expected to expand to nearly 10 billion people by mid-century.
Also taking part in the Collaborative are Biogemma, KWS, FAPESP, Rijk Zwaan and CIMMYT.
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