Today, at the World Food Prize DialogueNext Conference, “Seeds of Strength: Nurturing Farmer Resilience,” held in Texcoco, Mexico, Dr. Cary Fowler, Special Envoy for Global Food Security, and partners from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) announced progress toward executing the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS). The U.S. government supports VACS as part of its whole-of-government poverty and hunger initiative, Feed the Future.
Participants at the conference made several announcements regarding new collaborations in support of VACS.
FAO and CIMMYT launched the Partnership for VACS to co-lead the VACS movement globally. This partnership will leverage relationships with private sector entities, farmers’ organizations, and a wide range of groups to institutionalize the VACS framework focusing on investment in soil health and climate-adapted crop varieties. An Executive Secretary housed at CIMMYT will guide the Implementer’s Group, Champions, and Community of Practice.
The VACS Community of Practice serves as a platform for innovative collaboration and idea exchange to advance VACS. With more than 1,500 active participants, it broadens input from public sectors, nonprofits, private sectors, and others to leverage technical expertise and expand stakeholder coalitions working towards advancing VACS.
Members within this community are volunteering to develop a global agenda and write papers addressing policy challenges, solutions, and best practices. Six initial working groups have been created with their co-leads including:
- Access to Improved Crop Varieties: Global Crop Diversity Trust and the World Vegetable Center
- Increase Demand for Opportunity Crops: FAO
- Value Chain Creation: World Business Council for Sustainable Development and GAIN
- Sustainable Land Use: World Wildlife Fund
- Soil Management: CIMMYT and The University of Zambia
- Africa: Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
The CGIAR, FAO, and IFAD welcomed the Global Crop Diversity Trust to the VACS Implementers Group. This group serves as a primary means of coordination across institutions with dedicated funding to advance VACS goals by developing common strategies, identifying opportunities to maximize collective impact, ensuring information sharing across major lines of effort.
The U.S. Department of State will collaborate with the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) to scale private sector investment into climate-adapted crop varieties through VACS. The CFC will identify viable investment opportunities suitable for finance and technical support aiming at increasing agricultural resilience among smallholder farmers in Africa and Central America.
The VACS Champions Program recognizes private sector entities such as Bayer AG, Catholic Relief Services, ADM among others committed to developing climate-adapted nutritious crop varieties.
In Guatemala, IICA along with numerous partners is collaborating on expanding VACS from 2025-2030 by coordinating technical workshops aimed at building resilient agricultural systems.
