September 29, 2025. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The global food security research organizations CIMMYT and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) announce the launch of a joint research hub dedicated to advancing innovative technologies, evidence, scaling strategies, and policy solutions to fight hunger, poverty, and malnutrition equitably and sustainably. CIMMYT’s new Washington, D.C. office at IFPRI’s headquarters will support this new phase in their long-standing collaboration.
The new hub will serve as a bridge between agricultural science and policy, ensuring that innovations in maize, wheat, and dryland crop systems research are matched with evidence-based policies that promote their scaling and widespread adoption for greater impact. Combining CIMMYT’s strengths in crop breeding and genetics, data collection, and sustainable farming systems with IFPRI’s expertise in economic analysis, impact evaluation, and food and nutrition policy research will accelerate the path from discovery to impact.
This collaboration will focus on smallholder farmers across the Global South but will also benefit producers of all sizes in farming communities and reach consumers around the world. According to forthcoming IFPRI research, 60 percent of the wheat grown in the United States and more than half of the wheat grown in the EU can be traced back to CIMMYT’s research, contributing to productivity gains and greater resilience to pests and diseases.
“Having a base for CIMMYT at IFPRI in Washington will deepen our collaboration and position our two Institutes to jointly work with a broader coalition of the U.S. and global partners to build more resilient food systems,” said CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts. “It is a unique opportunity to bridge agricultural science with forward-looking policy, driving meaningful change at scale.”
Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPRI, emphasized the power of joint action:
“The world faces complex and urgent challenges to food and nutrition security—from climate change to conflict and economic instability. Meeting these challenges requires not only excellent science, but also effective policies and strong implementation. Our collaboration with CIMMYT demonstrates how linking policy analysis with agricultural innovation can deliver lasting impact at scale for farmers and consumers.”
The new CIMMYT-IFPRI hub will link science and policy by aligning breeding and agronomic innovations with enabling policy frameworks to more effectively offer field-level solutions to farmers. The hub will focus on wide-ranging engagement with players across agrifood value chains, policymakers, international organizations, donor agencies, and other food system stakeholders to strengthen food and nutrition security worldwide.
Together, CIMMYT and IFPRI are creating a platform where science and policy converge—turning research into action for more productive, resilient, and sustainable food systems.
About CIMMYT:
CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrow’s problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT is a core CGIAR Research Center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources.
For more information, visit: https://www.cimmyt.org/
About IFPRI:
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI’s strategic research aims to identify and analyze alternative international and country-led strategies and policies for meeting food and nutrition needs in low- and middle-income countries, with particular emphasis on poor and vulnerable groups in those countries, gender equity, and sustainability. It is a research center of CGIAR, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development. https://www.ifpri.org/
Media inquiries:
Nahyane Bakkali, n.bakkali@cgiar.org (CIMMYT HQ, Mexico)
Evgeniya Anisimova, e.anisimova@cgiar.org (IFPRI, Washington D.C.)
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