Gates Agricultural Innovations and Corteva announce new collaboration to accelerate Ag innovation

Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) and Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA), a global agriculture technology company, announced a new collaboration to accelerate agricultural innovations in support of global food security. 

Leveraging Corteva’s global leadership in agricultural innovation along with Gates Ag One’s mission to accelerate the most promising agricultural innovations into the hands of smallholder farmers, the collaboration aims to lead the development of novel seed technologies, to boost sustainable crop productivity while building climate resilience.

Photo credit: Gates Ag One

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, are today only around a third of the global average, and smallholder farmers are amongst the most impacted by climate change despite being amongst the least responsible for its impact. By 2050, climate change could reduce yields for some crops by up to 35 percent. 

″It’s exciting to imagine the possibilities that a collaboration like this could help deliver,″ said Joe Cornelius, CEO of Gates Ag One. ″This is especially important for Gates Ag One’s mission to ensure that agricultural innovations can better meet the needs and realities of smallholder farmers.″

As a non-profit, Gates Ag One’s mission is governed by a Global Access policy, which means that technologies will be made more widely available and affordably accessible to their intended beneficiaries, namely smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The collaboration is a long-term effort targeting a range of promising discoveries and will leverage Corteva’s industry-leading capabilities in biotechnology and gene editing with the goal of delivering breakthrough impacts. These include discoveries relevant to improved nutrient symbiosis in crops to make better use of nutrients already present in the air and soil. While still in early stages, this advancement could enable greater productivity, and environmental and climate sustainability.

″Innovation in agriculture is helping solve some of the world’s toughest challenges, including food insecurity,″ said Sam Eathington, Chief Technology and Digital Officer of Corteva Agriscience. ″Collaborations like this will not only expand global access to advanced technologies, but deliver breakthroughs that benefit farmers and consumers by making it possible to grow more food on roughly the same amount of land.″

About Gates Ag One

Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is a non-profit organization that accelerates breakthrough agricultural research to meet the urgent and neglected needs of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Out of the conviction that all lives have equal value, Gates Ag One serves the interests of smallholder farmers, who are most exposed to climate shocks yet lack the access that others have to the latest agricultural innovations. Gates Ag One works to level the playing field and empower smallholder farmers to transform their agricultural productivity, nutrition security and climate resilience.