CGIAR Consortium

What CGIAR Consortium does

CGIAR Consortium is a global, publicly funded agricultural research partnership headquartered in Montpellier, France. Established in 1971 (originally as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and reorganized under the One CGIAR initiative beginning in 2021, it operates through a network of 15 international research centers and approximately 9,000 researchers across 70+ countries. Its core mission is delivering agricultural innovations as a global public good, with research outputs, germplasm, and digital tools distributed freely to smallholder farmers, governments, national breeding programs, and humanitarian organizations.

CGIAR's product surface comprises several interconnected portfolios. The CGIAR Genebanks conserve 700,000+ accessions of more than 3,000 plant species, freely available under the Plant Treaty. The CGIAR AI Hub, launched in Abu Dhabi in December 2025 under a US$200 million UAE–Gates Foundation partnership, hosts five AI products: AgriLLM (a domain-specialized language model), Genebank AI, Hydrology AI, Policy AI, and Livestock AI. Other technology assets include the Longa speech recognition tool for low-resource African languages, Hydro.io digital twin water governance platforms, the GARDIAN data discovery platform, AgroFIMS field data collection tools, and digital phenotyping systems deployed with Google. The 2025-2030 Research Portfolio organizes work across 13 science programs, from breeding and climate action to digital transformation and gender inclusion.

The business model is a non-profit, donor-funded partnership. Revenue is sourced via the CGIAR Trust Fund, with major contributions from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the governments of the UAE and the United States, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund, and bilateral development agencies. Outputs are priced as public goods: germplasm is distributed under the Plant Treaty, AI models including AgriLLM and Longa are open-source licensed, and digital advisory tools are delivered through partnerships with extension services, radio networks, and humanitarian agencies. CGIAR scales impact through programs such as TAAT (12 million farmers reached in 27 countries), AICCRA (agribusiness accelerators in Africa), and AIM for Scale (targeting 100 million farmers by 2030).

Name

CGIAR Consortium

Legal name

CGIAR System Organization

Website

https://cgiar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CGIAR Consortium is a global, donor-funded agricultural research partnership operating 15 international research centers and ~9,000 researchers across 70+ countries. It delivers climate-resilient crop varieties, genomic resources, and AI-enabled advisory tools as public goods to smallholder farmers, governments, and humanitarian organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Research and Development

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Agriculture, Food Security & Nutrition Technical Assistance (BPADAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sustainable Agriculture, Food Systems & Land Management (BPADALAG), Decision Support & Agronomic Modeling (Yield, Irrigation, Pest/Disease Forecasting) (AFAAAFAF), Field Mapping, GIS & Remote Sensing Analytics (AFAAAFAB)

Keywords

• Agricultural research
• Climate-resilient crops
• Food security solutions
• Plant genetic resources
• Agricultural AI tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Montpellier

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donor Funding and Grants: CGIAR is publicly funded through multi-donor trust fund contributions from governments, foundations (Gates Foundation), development banks, and bilateral funding agreements. The organization operates as a global public good, with research outputs freely available.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CGIAR is a global research partnership that delivers agricultural science and innovation as public goods to transform food, land, and water systems. It operates 15 international research centers, conserves 700,000+ plant germplasm accessions across 11 genebanks, and runs a 2025-2030 Research Portfolio of 13 interconnected science programs spanning breeding, climate action, digital transformation, nutrition, and policy. Its growing CGIAR AI Hub translates 50+ years of research into AI products (AgriLLM, Genebank AI, Hydrology AI, Policy AI, Livestock AI) for smallholder farmers, researchers, and policymakers in developing countries.

Product overview

CGIAR operates as a distributed research network offering multiple interconnected products and services rather than a unified platform. The core offerings include the CGIAR AI Hub (Abu Dhabi-based AI platform with 5 products: AgriLLM, Genebank AI, Hydrology AI, Policy AI, and Livestock AI), the CGIAR Genebanks (11 facilities conserving 700,000+ plant accessions), the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture (with GARDIAN data platform, AgroFIMS field tools, and agronomy ontologies), and the 2025-2030 Research Portfolio of 13 science programs spanning breeding, climate action, digital transformation, and sustainability. CGIAR also provides specialized tools like Longa speech recognition, Hydro.io water decision-support, Aflasafe biological control products, and TAAT Clearinghouse for scaling innovations to financing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CGIAR AI Hub: A global collaborative workplace hosted in Abu Dhabi, designed to accelerate digital transformation in agriculture by leveraging AI and data from CGIAR's 13 international research centers.
• Digital Transformation Accelerator
• Breeding for Tomorrow
• Genebanks Accelerator
• Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator
• AgriLLM
• Fairgrounds
• TAAT Clearinghouse

Products and services

• CGIAR AI Hub Global collaborative AI platform hosted in Abu Dhabi that transforms CGIAR's 50+ years of agricultural research into practical AI products for Food, Land and Water systems. Part of the UAE-Gates Foundation AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development.
• AgriLLM Agriculture-specific large language model trained on CGIAR and public data to support digital advisory tools, providing farmers and extension services with reliable, context-specific agricultural guidance tailored to crops, regions, and local realities in over 100 local languages.
• CGIAR Genebanks Eleven genebanks conserving 700,000+ accessions of more than 3,000 plant species globally. The world's most diverse publicly available crop collections, freely available to researchers, breeders, and farmers under the International Plant Treaty terms. Uses frontier technologies in genomics, AI, and cryopreservation.
• GARDIAN Data Platform CGIAR's flagship data discovery and management platform enabling users to find and access agricultural datasets, publications, and research outputs across CGIAR's global network.
• CGIAR 2025-2030 Research Portfolio Portfolio of 13 interconnected science programs: Better Diets and Nutrition, Breeding for Tomorrow, Climate Action, Digital Transformation, Food Frontiers and Security, Gender Equality and Inclusion, Genebanks, Multifunctional Landscapes, Policy Innovations, Scaling for Impact, Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods, Sustainable Farming, and Capacity Sharing.
• TAAT Clearinghouse CGIAR-led platform connecting science-backed agricultural innovations to financing, linking innovations to US$1.5 billion in African Development Bank investments across Africa. Delivers climate-smart seeds to 12 million farmers in 27 countries.
• Breakthrough Product Network Research initiative developing next-generation crop varieties for 12 priority crops targeting 25-30% productivity improvement, using a demand-driven 'Crop Concept' approach grounded in market intelligence, farmer needs, and consumer preferences.
• AICCRA Program World Bank-funded program using agribusiness accelerators to scale climate-smart agriculture through partnerships with local agribusinesses across Africa. Reached 718,000+ farmers in Zambia and 117,000 farmers in Ghana with 71% and 39% higher yields respectively.
• Vendor Business School Capacity building program providing business management, food safety, and operational resilience training to informal food vendors, institutionalized through the Quezon City ordinance and recognized with the Gawad Galing Lokal na Batas Gold Award.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20 million farmers reached with CGIAR innovations (2022-2024)
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability14 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GooglecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026CGIAR joined Google's AI Collaborative: Food Security to develop AI-powered phenotyping 'digital brain' for crop breeding. Partnership leverages CGIAR's 150+ breeding stations and Google's AI infrastructure to improve crop variety development efficiency.
• Farm Radio InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026IFPRI and CGIAR partnership with Farm Radio International to develop Longa AI speech recognition tool for African languages. Farm Radio's network of 1,400+ radio stations across 38 African countries provides platform to reach 100 million potential listeners.
• United Arab Emirates (UAE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025UAE and CGIAR collaboration through Abu Dhabi's AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development, backed by $200 million UAE-Gates Foundation partnership. Includes CGIAR AI Hub, IAAI, AgriLLM, and AIM for Scale initiatives targeting 100 million farmers by 2030.
• Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 December 2025UAE university providing advanced AI research capabilities as part of Abu Dhabi's AI Ecosystem. Contributes to CGIAR AI Hub's mission to translate agricultural science into practical AI products.
• AI71coreTechnology or Integration · 1 December 2025AI engineering partner providing technical expertise to develop and deploy CGIAR AI Hub products including AgriLLM, Genebank AI, and other AI-powered agricultural tools.
• FAOcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2025FAO and CGIAR collaborate on food systems transformation, with CGIAR contributing evidence and innovations to FAO's global food security initiatives and World Food Forum.
• Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025Launching Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator in April 2025 as part of CGIAR's 2025-2030 Research Portfolio to drive equitable gender outcomes in agriculture.
• World Food Programme (WFP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partnership integrating CGIAR food, land, and water systems research into WFP's humanitarian operations. Collaborations in Sudan and Somalia enhance real-time decision-making for food security responses.
• World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Collaboration on Black Soldier Fly innovations and urban food systems transformation in Kenya, working with IITA to advance circular bioeconomy approaches.
• African Development Bank, African Union Commission, Forum for Agricultural Research in AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022CGIAR signed Abidjan II agreement with these organizations to strengthen Africa's food systems and guide strategic engagement during transition to One CGIAR.
• PlantCatalyst, Corteva, iDE, Zambia Agriculture Research InstituteminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2021Partners in AICCRA Zambia program deploying drought-tolerant seed varieties and climate-smart agricultural practices through 19 agribusinesses.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Broad incumbents

• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): FAO is the UN specialized agency for food and agriculture, with a much broader normative, policy, and country-implementation mandate than CGIAR. CGIAR provides FAO its underlying science while FAO sets global standards and convenes governments, making FAO the principal broader-incumbent counterpart.

Others

• WRI (World Resources Institute): WRI is a global research organization focused on environment, climate, and food systems with major donor funding, data platforms, and convening power. While not an agricultural research body, it overlaps CGIAR in food systems, climate, and data-for-development missions and competes for similar donor mindshare.

Direct peers

• Rothamsted Research: Rothamsted is the world's oldest agricultural research station (founded 1843), conducting long-term agronomy, crop, and soil science research with deep datasets. Its research-for-public-good model and genomics/AI focus overlap directly with CGIAR's Breeding for Tomorrow and Genebanks work.
• INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement): INRAE is France's national public agricultural and environmental research institute with ~10,000 staff and a global publication and partnership footprint. Headquartered in the same Montpellier ecosystem and with comparable thematic breadth (crop science, livestock, environment), it is the most direct institutional peer to CGIAR.
• CABI: CABI is an international not-for-profit organization providing scientific expertise in agriculture and the environment, operating a global research and publishing network across dozens of countries. Its mission, governance model, and applied science-for-development posture closely mirror CGIAR's.
• ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research): ICAR is the apex public body coordinating agricultural research, education, and extension across India with a network of institutes. It mirrors CGIAR's multi-center research-for-development model and is both a partner and a structural peer, particularly in breeding and climate-resilient crop work.
• EMBRAPA (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária): EMBRAPA is Brazil's national agricultural research corporation, recently recognized by FAO for global food security contributions. It operates a network of crop and livestock research centers and works on tropical agriculture adaptation — closely comparable to CGIAR's mission and center-network structure.
• AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa): AGRA is a multi-donor partnership that works across African agricultural value chains to improve smallholder productivity, seed systems, and policy environments. It is the closest mission-aligned peer to CGIAR's Africa-focused programs (TAAT, AICCRA, AIM for Scale).

Emerging players

• Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture: Syngenta Foundation is a privately funded non-profit working on smallholder productivity, seeds, and digital agronomy in emerging markets. It is smaller and more focused than CGIAR but pursues a closely related smallholder-impact mission with similar digital-advisory and seed-system tools.

Regional players

• ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research): ACIAR is an Australian government statutory authority funding international agricultural research for development, primarily across the Indo-Pacific. It mirrors CGIAR's international-development framing but operates from a regional funding base with a smaller mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CGIAR
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCYuSEwWKAsoNwg6MJEI-qeA
• Facebookfacebook.com/info
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cgiar-consortium
• Instagraminstagram.com/onecgiar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments1 record

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Frequently asked questions about CGIAR Consortium