“In a rapidly changing world, it’s wonderful to see a renewed commitment from partners to safeguard their resources in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault."
“It doesn’t help to have the most perfect crop collections in the world, if no one knows what they contain. That is why information systems are so important.”
"2016 was one of the most iconic years in the organization’s history to date. I am extremely proud of the strides we made in growing our ever-important network of partners."
"The effects of climate change put crop diversity front and center. Diverse crops enable farmers to provide adequate food and nutrition, not only for their families but for others as well."
"It matters not what continent we live in, nor where our favorite crop comes from – e.g. maize from Mesoamerica, rice from Southeast Asia, wheat from the Fertile Crescent. We all eat. And we all benefit from crop diversity."
"We are deeply grateful for all contributions and pledges of all sizes because they show the continued power of the hope we all share, a hope for a food secure world."
Grants to conserve crop diversity world wide increased in 2016
2015
USD 28.4 Million
2016
USD 32.4 Million
+14%
Credits
Crop Trust
Securing our food, forever
The Crop Trust is fortunate to have support from across the world all dedicated to realizing one common vision: a food secure world.
The Crop Trust would like to thank the following people for their support for this year’s annual report: Ambassador Walter Fust, Mary Ann Sayoc, the Crop Trust Staff, Scriptoria, Epic Agency, In Fine Co/Creative Agency and Getty Images Reportage.
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 7 53113 Bonn, Germany
www.croptrust.org
Crop Trust Information Systems Manager, Matija Obreza, discussed the importance of Genesys, the online portal for plant genetic resources, in a video interview.
A capacity building workshop on collecting was held at MARDI headquarters and brought together participants from Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal and Malaysia.
The University of Okayama in Japan and Seed Savers Exchange in the United States made the first deposit of 2016 with the deposit of 3,529 new accessions of barley and vegetable crops.
Distributions of hundreds of crop wild relatives were mapped globally to identify areas where they remain under-collected. The results of this “gap-analysis” were published in Nature Plants in March.
The Conference brought together representatives from governments, private organizations and multi-lateral institutions from around the world to make a joint commitment to safeguard crop diversity.
“Safeguarding crop diversity, forever, is indeed a challenge – and a big responsibility - in which we must all partake.” - Her Excellency Ameenah Gurib-Fakim.
The CWR project published its first animated video – highlighting exactly what the wild relatives of our domesticated crops are and why they are so important.
Researchers from CIAT and the Crop Trust looked at the origins of our food crops and quantified the level of interconnectedness of national diets in a study that is the first of its kind.
The first spotlight interview featured author and educator, Simran Sethi, who discussed her latest book, “Bread, Wine and Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love.”
Staff attended the UNFCCC NAP Expo in Bonn, where our Executive Director, Marie Haga, discussed crop diversity and its role in mitigating the effects of climate change.
Sophie Chou, from the World Vegetable Center spent 2 weeks at the Crop Trust learning about best data management practices and published the collection's latest passport data on Genesys.
The Crop Trust accompanied our CWR partners in Central America on exploratory field trips where they searched for wild rice, bean, eggplant, potato and sweet potato.
A total of 53 genebank staff joined the Crop Trust in Nairobi, Kenya at ICRAF headquarters for the 2nd GOAL workshop. "We are what we repeatedly do. Quality then is not an act, but a habit."
Chairing the Donor's Council for the first time was the Netherlands' FAO Ambassador, Dr. Hans Hoogeveen who announced further support to the Crop Trust from the Netherlands in the future.
We welcomed the Executive Board to our offices in Bonn. Board Chair, Mr. Walter Fust and member, Mary Ann Sayoc, were both re-nominated at the Donors' Council earlier in the month.
Executive Director, Marie Haga traveled to Wellington, New Zealand where she was pleased to sign a NZD 2M donor agreement with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Marie then went to Canberra to sign 2 new agreements: an AUD 5M grant to the endowment and a project agreement: “Strengthening Crop Conservation Post Cyclone Winston.”
The Crop Trust and India signed a MoU, inspired by our common objectives to protect crop diversity for the future of agriculture and in support of their new contribution.
The Crop Trust co-sponsored and participated in the 1st International Agro-biodiversity Congress held in New Delhi, India. While in the region, Marie Haga visited our partners at ICRISAT.
“It is impressive how the Crop Trust, a small but very spirited team, manages to accomplish such major feats. From my first day in the office, I could sense the ubiquitous dedication and enthusiasm around me.”-Faith Wambua-Lüdeling, Crop Trust Administrative Assistant
As an international organization with a global mission, the Crop Trust requires world-class staff. In early 2016, management completed an exercise to evaluate the needs and skill requirements over the next years, given the next stages of the global Genebank Partnership and new phase of the Crop Wild Relatives Project. As a result, the Secretariat grew significantly in competency. We welcomed new staff in every team – seven additions in all.
In June, all of the staff came together for an onsite training course to review project management strategies and processes. Sharing experiences and learning together continues to be an essential ingredient to the cohesion we rely on across teams.
Now benefiting from 17 nationalities in the Secretariat and retaining a positive gender balance throughout the organization, the Crop Trust is better suited than ever to build a truly global system for the conservation of crop diversity.
Benjamin Kilian, Plant Genetic Resources Scientist. Ben joined the Crop Trust team in September 2016 and works under the Crop Wild Relatives Project, monitoring and providing support to pre-breeding activities on 19 crops involving more than 30 partner institutions and coordinating efforts on the management of pre-breeding data.
Photo: Cierra Martin
Elena Popova, Genebank Program Scientist. Elena joined the Crop Trust in October 2016 and assists in providing oversight to the Genebank Platform. She provides expertise and support to CGIAR genebanks in their efforts to implement modern methods of ex situ genetic resources conservation, including in vitro and cryo-banking technologies.
Photo: Epic Web Agency
Nora Castañeda-Álvarez, Genesys Catalog Coordinator. Nora joined the Crop Trust in December 2016 and works with the Genesys Catalog of Phenotypic Datasets project, monitoring and supporting partner institutions to develop data publication procedures, to implement standards that ensure data interoperability and to publish phenotypic datasets on the Genesys Catalog.
Photo: Cierra Martin
Faith Wambua- Lüdeling, Administrative Assistant. Fae joined the Crop Trust in October 2016, where she provides administrative and project support to the Science Team.
Photo: Epic Web Agency
Isbandiyar Valiyev, Junior ICT and Operations Assistant. Isbandiyar joined the Crop Trust in March 2016 and provides support with travel and meeting services and with ICT services.
Photo: Epic Web Agency
Bernhard Stocker, Executive Assistant
Bernhard joined the Crop Trust in December 2016 and is responsible for providing executive-level administrative support to the Executive Director and the Organization’s Executive Management Team as well as to its Executive Board.
Photo: Cierra Martin
Dezreen Cameron-Stein, Financial Accountant.
Dezreen joined the Crop Trust in December 2016 and is responsible for assisting in the management of the financial affairs of the Organization, including the financial statements, multi-year budgets, cash flow forecasting, investments and management accounting.
2016 marked the fifth year of our partnership with Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2012, Rhodes has funded one recent graduate to work at the Crop Trust through the Cary Fowler ’71 Environmental Studies International Fellowship. The fourth individual to participate in this fellowship program, Cierra Martin, completed her assignment with the Partnerships and Communications Team in July 2016. In August, Amanda Fuller officially joined us in Bonn as the 2016-2017 Fellow.
This program offers a unique opportunity for young professionals to gain experience in an international setting that requires a diverse skillset. Given the small staff size of the organization, the Rhodes Fellows routinely work alongside members of every team.
“The transition directly from studying international relations to practicing it, is more than I could have ever hoped for upon graduation. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity afforded to me by Rhodes College and the guidance I received at the Crop Trust.”-Julia Greene, 2014-2015 Rhodes Fellow
Staff participated in a project management training course in June 2016, sharing on the job experiences and learning new strategies for continued success.
Photo: Luis Salazar
The Crop Trust welcomed, Amanda Fuller, (right) the fifth Partnerships and Communications Fellow to our secretariat.
Photo: Cierra Martin
Rhodes College representatives visited the Crop Trust. Since 2012, the Crop Trust has benefitted from having a fellow serve on our staff, and for the past two years, we have welcomed a Summer Science Intern.
Photo: Luis Salazar
Isbandiyar Valiyev (Right) and Alireza Mohammadi (Left) are two key members of the Corporate Operations Team and keep the Crop Trust’s IT systems running smoothly.
Photo: Dagny Poser
In 2016, the Crop Trust expanded our “lunchtime seminars,” which have previously been presented solely by external partners to include presentations by Crop Trust Science team members. These seminars offer an opportunity for other Crop Trust teams to better understand the various technical areas of our work in more detail while enjoying lunch.
Photo: Luis Salazar
Our secretariat is as diverse as the crops we work to safeguard, with 17 nationalities across our teams and no shortage of unique perspectives to the task at hand.
Photo: Dagny Poser
Luigi Guarino, Crop Trust Director of Science and Programs, visited the Vavilov Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia with Crop Trust Executive Director, Marie Haga, this summer.
Photo: Marie Haga
Charlotte Lusty, Crop Trust Genebank Programmes Coordinator (Left) visited ICARDA’s temporary genebank facilities in Rabat, Morocco with Dr. Ahmed Amri, ICARDA’s Head of Genetic Resources (Right).
Photo: Shawn Landersz
Crop Trust team members relaxed in the sun at our annual summer barbeque.
Photo: Crop Trust
Hannes Dempewolf, Crop Trust Senior Scientist and Head of Global Initiatives, tasted Cocoa fruit on a Crop Trust visit to the International Cocoa Genebank Trinidad (ICGT).
Photo: Luis Salazar
From fellows and interns to our most senior staff, there is no shortage of dedication. The Crop Trust is committed to securing our food, together.
