Crop Trust

Crop Trust, also known as the world Crop variety Trust, is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Bonn, Germany that works to preserve crop variety and make plant genetic resources available for world food and agriculture. The group promotes genebanks, seed conservation initiatives, crop wild relative conservation, digital crop diversity tools, and long-term financing methods to save seed and plant collections utilised by academics, breeders, farmers, and food security agencies. Its work is focused on preserving agricultural biodiversity, strengthening global genebank systems, assisting the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, improving access to crop diversity data via platforms such as Genesys, and funding projects that help develop resilient, nutritious, and climate-adapted crops.

Crop Trust was founded in October 2004 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Bioversity International on behalf of CGIAR with the goal of providing long-term support for crop diversity conservation and usage through its Crop Diversity Endowment Fund. The organization was first hosted in Rome, Italy, and later moved its headquarters to Bonn, Germany, in 2013. Crop Trust has collaborated with national and international genebanks, research centres, governments, funders, and agricultural biodiversity partners throughout the years to assist seed collecting, crop conservation plans, data management, and seed sample backup storage.

Its 2024 annual report stated more than 1.3 million seed samples stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, 165 partner institutions, and an endowment fund of USD 357 million by the end of 2024.

Crop Trust's primary activities include financial support for international and national genebanks, conservation of crop wild relatives, seed safety duplication, biodiversity documentation, project funding, capacity building, policy collaboration, and public education about food security and agricultural resilience. The organization's key programs and initiatives include the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund, BOLD, Seeds for Resilience, Global Crop Conservation Strategies, support for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and work related to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.