Together with our partners, Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) helps accelerate crop innovations reaching — and benefitting — smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Improving plant biology offers the potential for transformations that are renewable, affordable, and scalable. Gates Ag One is a subsidiary of the Gates Foundation, set up specifically to harness this natural solution for development impact.
Who We Are
We embrace a start-up mentality and a collaborative approach — crowdsourcing diverse expertise, building local capacity, seeking major breakthroughs, and acting decisively.
A strong enabling environment is as important as innovation. Our open innovation approach emphasizes knowledge-sharing and trust, grounded in the belief that collaboration, not competition, leads to the best results.
What We Do
Smallholder farmers make essential contributions to the global food system, but in some countries, only 10% of farmers have access to the latest generation of seeds or planting material.
We act as an agricultural innovation accelerator, helping connect a fragmented research
and development pipeline to deliver solutions that meet smallholders’ needs.
Agricultural innovation can transform global food security, but only if breakthroughs reach those who need them most.
– Joe Cornelius, Gates Ag One CEO – The Economist Impact
