Bill & Melinda 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.

Global Agricultural Research Project Led from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) Receives US$28 Million Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations

February 21, 2024

An international research project hosted by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has become the latest grantee of Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One).
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Joe Cornelius,
Chief Executive Officer

“Improving the biology of crops offers solutions that are affordable, renewable, and scalable for African smallholders.”

– Joe Cornelius, Ph.D., CEO of Gates Ag One via Agri-Pulse

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One)?
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations, also known as Gates Ag One, was created to accelerate the most promising agricultural breakthroughs and innovations in reaching – and benefiting – smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
  • As a nonprofit affiliate of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we act like an agricultural innovation accelerator, connecting what is currently a fragmented R&D pipeline for smallholders. 
  • We champion a coordinated, networked approach to innovation that generates and shares knowledge freely, believing that collaboration creates the best results. 
  • Our operating model is therefore underpinned by dynamic partnerships, both with organizations local to our headquarters in St. Louis, MO, such as the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, as well as leading institutions around the world.
What innovations does Gates Ag One focus on?
  • Gates Ag One is demand driven, focused on investing in areas with the greatest potential for impact that provide smallholder farmers with the options that best meet their needs.
  • We are most interested in innovations that lead to improved varieties of six priority crops:
    • Cassava, one of the most important crops to smallholder farmers and African diets.
    • Cowpea, an all-purpose crop that holds impressive capacity to nourish people, livestock, and the soil.
    • Maize, the most abundantly produced cereal crop in the world, used for food, feed and fuel.
    • Rice, the bedrock of food security for millions.
    • Soybean, a crucial commodity crop for economic development and a global source of protein and plant-based oil.
    • Sorghum, an important crop for smallholder farmer adaptation to climate change, particularly in the world’s arid regions.
  • Our initial portfolio of research grants is focused on taking advantage of plant biology to increase the productivity and resilience of crops that are central to smallholder agricultural systems. These first projects include:
  • We also work with partners to protect intellectual property to ensure that promising early-stage innovations can ultimately be translated into products beneficial to smallholder farmers in line with Global Access principles.
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Explore Our Crops at a Glance

Cassava

Rice

Cowpea

Soybean

Sorghum

Maize

Featured Videos

Bill & Melinda 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.
Researchers are working on crop solutions by harnessing what history and nature have already suggested are possible. Giving non-legume crops the same ability to bond with helpful nitrogen fixing bacteria as legumes has the potential to unlock benefits for this generation and beyond. Learn more about this fascinating area of scientific discovery.
Scientists are investigating ways to boost yields of cassava, a hardy and crucial crop for smallholder farmers across Africa, by improving a biological phenomenon known as “source-sink relations.” This process involves the distribution of energy produced during photosynthesis from the leaves to the roots, known as “source-sink.” Find out how researchers are working to get the balance just right to ensure optimal growth of the edible roots.

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