SDG 1 – End poverty in all its forms
everywhere

The quality seeds help alleviate poverty by boosting yields and yield security, allowing smallholder farmers to better nourish themselves and to obtain income.

SDG 2 – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

On current trends, the world must produce 50 percent more food by 2050; that crop yields must therefore increase at higher than historical rates; and that this increased production must not come from deforestation or any other expansion of agricultural land.

SDG 8 – Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all

For many farmers, the seed sector remains a significant potential source of increased income through improved yields, resistance, resilience, adaptability, and crop knowledge; but that only 10 percent of the world’s smallholder farmers can handle the quality seeds.
We have a significant role to play in the promotion of sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth for some of the world’s most marginalised populations, including decent work.

SDG 12 – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

We are committed to collaborate with the value chain for more responsible production and consumption.
We are helping to reduce agricultural water use by developing varieties, which require less water for their growth; that improved seeds also require less land, lessening the rates of land conversion and deforestation; and that by enabling agriculture to grow more with less, improved seeds lead to a smaller environmental footprint.

SDG 13 – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

More than one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry, and land-use change, and that – without action – these emissions are likely to increase as the global population grows.
Agricultural emissions must be reduced by two-thirds from 2010 levels in order to keep global temperature rise to less than 2°C.
Farmers are also impacted by climate change, which brings unstable weather patterns, disease, pests, and extreme weather events, such as droughts and flooding. We can help reduce agricultural emissions by breeding crop plants to better capture carbon, for example, by developing plants with extensive root systems.
The seed and seedling industry can help farmers adapt to climate change by developing crops that are more resistant to drought and other symptoms of a changing climate.

SDG 15 – Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

We rely on genetic resources to continue improving seeds; and that the sector helps protect biodiversity through its support for access and benefit sharing mechanisms, such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We also contribute to create new diversity among varieties.

SDG 17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

We share the common unifying goal of providing quality seed for farmers around the world, including in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Continuous adapted varieties and good quality seed enable farmers to maximize yield while remaining resistant to climate change, pests, and diseases.
The complexities of the challenges above require everybody in the food value chain to collaborate, including the public and private sectors; and that this collaboration is the only way to a global food system fit for the future.