Boletín SIUN / Detalle noticia

The Harvest for Health Initiative is accelerating the development of underutilized crops to increase the diversity of foods in the marketplace. The initiative focuses on crops that are nutritious and have properties of interest to food and ingredient companies.

Of more than 50,000 known edible plant species, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that only three crops – rice, wheat and maize – account for two-thirds of the world’s food supply. As a result, many nutritious, resilient crops remain underutilized, contributing to poor dietary diversity and health outcomes.

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) partnered with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to launch the Harvest for Health Initiative to accelerate the development of underutilized crops, increasing the diversity of foods in the marketplace. The model developed through this initiative will predict underutilized crops’ potential as sources of functional and nutritious ingredients that could replace, complement or aid in reformulating the existing food products or developing new ones.

While underutilized crops have incredible functional and nutritional potential, the development of such crops for consumption or use in other products is prohibitively expensive and time-intensive. To attract more private sector investment in underutilized crop development, Harvest for Health is launching the Breakthrough Crop Challenge to develop a predictive model that can screen underutilized crops to determine a crop’s usefulness as a source of functional ingredients or nutrients.

Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to carry out the Breakthrough Crop Challenge as Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) may apply through their home institution or organization. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research welcomes applications from all domestic and international higher education institutions, non-profit and for-profit organizations and U.S. government-affiliated research agencies. Applicants will be required to agree to the Breakthrough Crop Challenge Terms and Conditions and to develop and submit a validated predictive model as outlined in the submission criteria section at the call's website. All applications will be reviewed by an expert review panel for eligibility to receive the USD 1 million award. 

All applications must be submitted in English and all award payments will be disbursed in U.S. dollars (USD), and any institution around the globe may apply.

Deadline: Wednesday 7 August 2024

Further information: website of the call; Program Contact: Constance Gewa, Ph.D. (Cgewa@foundationfar.org); Development Contact, Catherine Maxwell (cmaxwell@foundationfar.org) 

La Vicerrectoría de Investigación no tiene más información acerca de esta convocatoria distinta a la publicada en los enlaces de esta nota.

[Boletín SIUN 684, 4/5 de julio de 2024]