In the future, this crop diversity will play a central role in helping agriculture adjust to climate change and adapt to water and energy constraints.

In 1996, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognized the need for global coordination for the conservation of the world’s crop diversity.

At a conference organized by the FAO, 150 countries launched a Global Plan of Action to coordinate efforts at halting the loss of the world’s agrobiodiversity.

The Plant Treaty brings the diversity of 64 food and forage crops into a multilateral system where the genetic material is protected and accessible to all who needed it.

[7] The Crop Trust began its work gathering contributions for the endowment fund from various foundations, corporations, and governments that had ratified the Plant Treaty.

In 2007, the Crop Trust signed its first long-term grant agreement with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Philippines.

[9] Under Fowler’s leadership, the Crop Trust initiated the Global System Project and joined the three-party management agreement for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which opened in 2008 as a partnership between the Crop Trust, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Norway, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).

[19] 2004-2005 – Geoffrey Hawtin (Interim) 2005-2012 – Cary Fowler 2013-2019 – Marie Haga 2020–present – Stefan Schmitz 2007–2012 – Margaret Catley-Carlson 2013–2017 – Walter Fust 2018–2019 – Amb.

Timothy Fischer 2019–2021 – Sir Peter Crane 2022–present – Catherine Bertini Since its establishment, the Crop Trust has funded work in over 80 countries, and made its first grant for long-term conservation of a collection in late 2006.

This provides security of the world’s food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, and natural disasters.