This year's winners are Monsanto and PepsiCo!
Monsanto | Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)
The Water Efficient Maize for Africa project (WEMA) is a public/private partnership, led by the Kenyan-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and USAID. It was created with a goal to enhance food security in Sub-Saharan Africa through developing and deploying drought-tolerant maize royalty-free to the smallholder farmers. Insect-protection is complementary to the efforts of developing more drought-tolerant maize varieties and will also be available royalty-free. This increased yield stability has the potential to help reduce hunger and improve the livelihood of millions of Africans. The project is in its sixth year and is approaching a significant milestone as the first WEMA conventional maize hybrid will be available for commercial planting in Kenya by the end of 2013.
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PepsiCo | Precision Agriculture
PepsiCo was recognized for its overall approach to precision agriculture in India. In collaboration with the Columbia Water Center of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and supported by a grant from the PepsiCo Foundation, the company has worked with rice farmers in India, deploying water measurement, seeding and disease management technologies that allow farmers to conserve 20 percent more water than traditional flood irrigation.
“As a global food and beverage company, agriculture is crucial to PepsiCo’s business and to the growers and communities where we operate. To improve the resilience of our supply chains across the world we need sound, scientific data, and tools like the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index are critically important in researching a country’s vulnerability to global climate risks. We are pleased to accept the ND-GAIN Corporate Adaptation Award for our approach to precision agriculture,” noted Dan Bena, senior director of sustainable development, PepsiCo.