Cover Page

Annual Report 2016

"2016 was one of the most iconic years in the organization’s history to date."
Marie Haga
Executive director of the Crop Trust

Key figures

Crop varieties added+43K

Number of new crop varieties added to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault42,979

Crop Wild Relatives collected1,5K

CWR samples collected from 14 countries1,512

Grants provided for conservationUSD 32,4M

Value of grants Crop Trust provided to conserve crop diversity globallyUSD 32,444,843

Contributions+ USD 23,9M

Contributions to the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund in 2016USD 23,973,891

Accessions Conserved756K

Accessions conserved in international collections756,711

Updated accessions in Genesys2,1M

Number of accession records updated in Genesys2,194,870

Crop accessions distributed72K

Accessions distributed by international collections of crop diversity72,658

Countries receiving samples102

Number of countries receiving samples from Crop Trust supported collections102

Letters

"We on the Executive Board certainly felt the energy this year, and also the heat."

"Vavilov's insight, that crops are citizens of the world, still holds the power to inspire."

What we do

The Crop Trust is building an effective, sustainable global system to conserve the world’s crop diversity forever.

“If you’re a genebank, however small, you need a quality management system. You can’t leave anything to chance. Seeds are too precious.”

"The future of food fundamentally depends on these plants, and we all share a common interest in ensuring their productivity and resilience."

What we do

“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.”

The result of global conservation strategies is an improved understanding of threats to diversity and an actionable strategy for progress.

The Crop Trust

“The Crop Trust is very fortunate to benefit from a multifaceted and inclusive governance structure.”

The Crop Trust is committed to securing our food, together.

"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."

Take action

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.

Financial

Grants to conserve crop diversity world wide increased in 2016

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.

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Highlights of the year

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Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Jan 2016

15 January 2016

Ministerial Luncheon in Berlin

The Crop Trust, in partnership with KWS, hosted a luncheon for Ministers to share the importance of conserving crop diversity.

Learn More

25M

14 January 2016

Germany Announces New Contribution to the Crop Trust

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development pledged an additional EUR 25 Million to the Crop Trust.

Press Release

Feb 2016

10 February 2016

New Video: A Genesys PGR Overview

Crop Trust Information Systems Manager, Matija Obreza, discussed the importance of Genesys, the online portal for plant genetic resources, in a video interview.

Watch now

21 February 2016

CWR Capacity Building Course in Malaysia

A capacity building workshop on collecting was held at MARDI headquarters and brought together participants from Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal and Malaysia.

View gallery

22 February 2016

Executive Board Meets in Addis Ababa

The Crop Trust's Executive Board held a successful board meeting in Addis, Ethiopia hosted by ILRI.

Marie's Corner

Mar 2016

2 March 2016

First Seed Deposit of 2016

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.

Press Release

2 March 2016

CWR Gap Analysis

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.

Watch Now

16 March 2016

GOAL Workshop #1

The 1st GOAL workshop of 2016 was hosted by IITA & brought together over 40 genebank specialists.

View Gallery

Apr 2016

15 April 2016

The International Pledging Conference

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.

Press Release

8 April 2016

Video Message from the President of Mauritius

“Safeguarding crop diversity, forever, is indeed a challenge – and a big responsibility - in which we must all partake.” - Her Excellency Ameenah Gurib-Fakim.

Watch Now

15 April 2016

Partnership to Develop Global Coffee Conservation Strategy

The Crop Trust and World Coffee Research announced a partnership to develop a global coffee conservation strategy for the world’s coffee diversity.

Press Release

May 2016

16 May 2016

Animated Video Explains Importance of Crop Wild Relatives

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.

Watch Now

23 May 2016

From Sheep Food to Chili Peppers

More than 8,000 varieties of crops from Germany, Thailand, New Zealand and Taiwan were deposited to the Vault.

Press Release

Jun 2016

8 June 2016

New Research Published on Inter-dependence

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.

Press Release

27 June 2016

Launch of “Spotlight” on Crop Trust News Center

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.”

Read Now

28 June 2016

Breadfruit expert, Susan J. Murch visits the Crop Trust

"One breadfruit tree can feed an entire village, “ she said during her lunchtime seminar.

Breadfruit on Genesys

29 June 2016

Rhodes College Visits the Crop Trust

Rhodes College representatives visited the Crop Trust. Since 2012, the Crop Trust has benefitted from having a fellow serve on our staff.

Our Staff

Jul 2016

13 July 2016

Crop Trust participates in National Adaptation Plans (NAP) Expo

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.

Crop Trust Events

27 July 2016

Visit to the N.I.Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry.

The Crop Trust traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia to discuss future collaboration with the N.I.Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry.

View Gallery

Aug 2016

22 August 2016

Crop Trust Hosts Database Manager

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.

Genesys

730K

24 August 2016

Renewed Support from the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture

The Crop Trust welcomed a pledge of USD 730,000 from the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture.

Our Supporters

Sep 2016

24 September 2016

CWR Collecting In Central America

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.

View Gallery

25 September 2016

GOAL Workshop #2

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."

View Gallery

29 September 2016

ICARDA’s New Genebank Inaugurated in Lebanon

The new genebank contains rangeland and forage species, faba beans, grass pea, and the wild relatives of cereals and pulses.

Press Release

Oct 2016

18 October 2016

Combatting Climate Change, One Seed at a Time

First-time depositors from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Singapore joined 7 returning institutions in depositing 10,000 accessions to the Vault.

Press Release

21 October 2016

Donors’ Council Convenes in Rome

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.

Learn More

24 October 2016

Executive Board Meets in Bonn

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.

The Executive Board

31 October 2016

New Contribution from New Zealand

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.

Crop Trust & New Zealand

Nov 2016

1 November 2016

Renewed Support from Australia

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.”

News in November

7 November 2016

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India

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.

Crop Trust & India

8 November 2016

The 1st International Agrobiodiversity Congress

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.

Read Opinion Piece

9 November 2016

The Annual Genebank Managers Meeting (AGM)

The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) generously hosted this year’s AGM, which brought together scientists from across 18 countries.

In the News

Dec 2016

1 December 2016

Expert Consultation Group Meets in Bonn

Some of the world’s leading experts on ex situ conservation converged at our HQ in Bonn to discuss the current crop coverage of ex situ collections.

Learn More

Topics

The Crop Trust:

Human resources

“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.

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Partnering with Rhodes College

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