About the Editors

Guest editor

Prof. Cary Fowler, Ph.D.

Before joining the Global Crop Diversity Trust as its Executive Director in 2005, Dr. Cary Fowler was Professor and Director of Research in the Department of International Environment and Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Prof. Fowler retired as Executive Director of the Trust in October 2012, and currently serves as a Special Advisor to the organization.

Dr. Cary's career in the conservation of crop diversity spans four decades. In the 1990s, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, he headed the team that produced the UN's first global assessment of the state of the world's plant genetic resources. He drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO's Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted by 150 countries in 1996. In same year, he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit.

In 2004, he headed the International Committee that proposed and designed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Today, he chairs the Vault's International Advisory Council.

Dr. Cary is a past member of the US National Plant Genetic Resources Board and of the Board of Trustees of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico and past chair of the Board of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Currently, he serves on the Board of the NY Botanical Garden Corporation.

Dr. Cary has been profiled by CBS 60 Minutes and The New Yorker. He is the author of several books on the subject of crop diversity and more than 100 articles in agriculture, law, and development journals. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Uppsala (Sweden). He has an honorary doctorate of laws from Simon Fraser University (Canada) and an honorary doctorate of science from Rhodes College (Tennessee). In 2010, he received the 2010 Heinz Award for his "vision and efforts in the preservation of the world's food supply," and the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences awarded him the Vavilov Medal for his "exceptional contribution" to the cause of conserving plant genetic resources for present and future generations. He was subsequently elected to the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 2013, a documentary film centering on his life and work - "Seeds of Time" - premiered at the Copenhagen Film Festival.

Team of editors

Robert J. Redden, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert Redden completed his B.Sc. Ag. (Hons) degree at the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 1965, majoring in genetics and plant breeding, and then an M.Sc. Ag. degree in agronomy and plant breeding at the same university in 1969. He completed his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University, USA, in 1972. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the CIMMYT wheat breeding program from 1972 to 1974 with responsibility for introgression of spring wheat traits into winter wheat. He was a wheat specialist with IITA, Nigeria, 1975-1977, to assist with the introduction of Mexican wheat into the national wheat program.

Dr. Redden transferred to the grain legume program at IITA, Ibadan, 1077-1981, with the responsibility for conducting the international cowpea breeding program. In addition, he assisted with the program for international trainees and supervised graduate students from external universities.

From 1982 to 2000, Dr. Redden was a breeder of Phaseolus for grains in Australia, mainly for small white "navy beans" to be processed as baked beans in tomato sauce and also for lima and for (Vigna angularis) adzuki beans.

From 2001 to 2013, Dr. Redden was curator of the Australian Temperate Field Crops Collection based in Horsham, Victoria, with the responsibility of temperate pulse and temperate oilseed collections across many species and minor crops. This gene bank along with two others for winter cereals and for tropical crops were amalgamated into the Australian Grains Genebank based in Horsham, where Dr Redden continues to be a curator.

In 2013, Dr. Redden was Chairman of the ICRISAT Center Commissioned External Review for its Sub-Saharan Africa research and development program. This committee reviewed the ICRISAT research settings for subtropical semiarid cereal and legume crops in both East and West Africa.

Dr. Redden has been an author for over 50 refereed articles on topics ranging from plant breeding to biometrics, genetics, plant pathology, entomology, food sciences, and genetic resources. Along with Dr. Yadav, he has been a coeditor of books on chickpea, cool season crops and climate change, and adaptation of the world's major crops to climate change, and assisted with the production of the current book Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change. Dr. Redden has also contributed to chapters on lentil, pea, and faba bean genetic resources in various other books and special publications.

In 2008, Dr. Redden received the Yunnan Friendship Award for his leadership in two ACIAR legume projects in China.

Dr. Redden was a guest speaker at legume/ climate change workshops with CIAT in both Tanzania and Cali, Colombia, in 2011. In 2012, he hosted the Chinese recipient of the Vavilov-Frankel scholarship for young scientists training in genetic resources.

Shyam S. Yadav, Ph.D.

Dr. Shyam S. Yadav completed his Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture at the University of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1964, and a Master's Degree in Agriculture Botany (Genetics and Plant Breeding) from University of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1967. He completed his Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Breeding at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, in 1987.

Dr. Yadav is currently working as a Freelance International Agriculture Consultant for Manav Foundation at Manav Yadav Memorial Trust, Vikaspuri, New Delhi, India. Simultaneously, he is engaged and assigned as International Research Advisor in Agriculture on Capacity Development at Agriculture Research Institute of Afghanistan, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dr. Yadav started his professional career as Research Associate/Assistant Breeder with the main responsibility for introgression of the Mexican dwarf wheat varieties and tall Indian wheat varieties, development of new high-yielding semidwarf cultivars in the wheat breeding program at Division of Genetics, India Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India, from 1969 to 1974. He then worked as an agriculture specialist with the Government of Iraq from 1974 to 1979 to assist in the development and dissemination of crop production and management technology program. On returning back to India in 1979, Dr. Yadav joined the Chickpea Breeding Program at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, with the responsibility of developing and focusing the program on wide hybridization and introgression in chickpea to develop high-yielding, widely adapted, multiresistant and quality cultivars.

Under Dr. Yadav's leadership, the chickpea breeding team developed excellent new material of both Kabuli and Desi types. As a Program Leader of the chickpea breeding team at IARI, he was successful in developing and releasing more than 20 high-yielding, widely adapted, commercial chickpea varieties for different planting environments of India from 1988 to 2006. Some of India's pioneering and foremost chickpea varieties, namely, Pusa Kabuli 1053, 1088, 1108, 2024, and 1105 and Pusa Desi 362, 372, and 1103 were developed and released by him. Simultaneously, he also developed many unique germplasm lines that are being used in various national crop improvement programs by various chickpea breeders nationally and internationally. Dr. Yadav has also guided postgraduate students in the discipline of plant breeding on breeding approaches, methodologies, and techniques from 1990 to 2008.

Dr. Yadav served as Principal Investigator for various national and international research projects with Indian, Australian, and American research organizations during 1998-2006. In 2002, he worked as International Legumes Consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations in Myanmar. In 2007, he worked as International Technical Expert on standardization of quality products of fruit and vegetable crops for international marketing with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Sana'a, Yemen. Later on, in the same year, he was employed as Chief Scientist by Krishidhan Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Maharashtra, India. In 2008, he was employed as Chief Scientist and, later on, as Program Leader of Rice & Grains Program at National Agricultural Research Institute, Lae, Papua New Guinea.

Thus, Dr. Yadav has vast working experience as an agriculture scientist, consultant, and expert in different countries across the continents ranging from Australia, United States, Asia, and the Pacific Region. His primary interest of research has been focused on plant breeding, development of integrated crop production and management technologies and their dissemination among farming communities at village levels in diversified ecologies, mentoring and coaching of graduate and postgraduate students, agricultural personnel, NGOs, and different stakeholders.

In his current position, Dr. Yadav is responsible for capacity development in the agricultural research sector on issues of infrastructure development, administration and management of project planning, management- and...