Crop Trust (Friends of Global Crop Diversity Ltd.)

The Crop Trust was established in 2004 by Bioversity International on behalf of the CGIAR (Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to provide long-term grants to safeguard collections of unique and valuable crop diversity.   

With the mission of ensuring the long-term conservation and use of crop diversity for food security worldwide, the Crop Trust brings together and secures agricultural gene banks from around the world. The trust provides the following: financial support for the key international gene banks that make the diversity of our most important food crops available to all; tools and support for the efficient management of gene banks; coordination between conserving institutions to ensure that all crop diversity is protected, accessible and used; and final backup of crop seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Recognizing the vulnerability of the world’s gene banks, the global seed vault is a fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters. It represents the world’s largest collection of crop diversity.