Strategic Plan 2025-2028 Minor Use Foundation

Strategic Plan 2025-2028

Download our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan.

Contents

Introduction

The Minor Use Foundation, created in 2018, operates with a mission to support growers of specialty crops^[1] in the service of a commitment to making global agriculture more regenerative and increased economic return for smallholder farmers. We do this by facilitating access to crop protection tools for fruits, vegetables, nuts, and spices.

One of the major barriers to efficient production and consumption of fruits and vegetables is the losses incurred along the supply chain due to pests and diseases. Globally, losses in agricultural plant production is estimated at 40-50%.^[2] All farmers, especially small-scale farmers in developing countries cultivating high-value crops, face significant challenges in accessing effective pest control solutions. The impact is particularly severe for specialty crops which disproportionately lack access to necessary crop protection technologies. Increasing access to safe, modern and effective pest control solutions for farmers will increase yield and quality helping to prevent food loss and waste. and generate higher incomes to expand their operations and have a better standard of living.

Challenges to the Cultivation of Specialty Crops

Growers are facing a world of increasing complexity. Around the world, they are struggling to cope with increasing pest and disease pressures, in part due to climate change, combined with an increasingly challenging and fractured regulatory landscape.

The collaboration of multiple stakeholders such as governments, industry, researchers, academics, producers etc. is a key part of the solution to the challenges faced by growers. The Foundation works to identify crop protection gaps and connect stakeholders, to increase growers’ capacity to address pest and disease pressures in specialty crops.

Core Values and Mandates

Enhancing the Livelihood of Farmers

Improving farmers’ livelihoods requires access to effective crop protection tools that safeguard specialty crops from pests and diseases, reducing losses and improving yield quality. By supporting smallholder farmers in obtaining modern and safe agricultural inputs, the Foundation helps them increase their productivity and income, leading to greater economic stability.

The exchange of agricultural knowledge and best practices is crucial for addressing pest and disease pressures in specialty crops. The Foundation facilitates information-sharing among researchers, and regulatory bodies to bridge knowledge gaps and promote sustainable agricultural practices. This is achieved through training sessions, online resources, and collaborative research studies on crop protection tools.

Building Scientific Capacity of Specialty Crop Protection Tools

Scientific research plays a vital role in developing safe and effective crop protection strategies tailored for specialty crops. The Foundation works with experts to identify gaps in pest management and support scientific studies that lead to innovative, low-risk solutions. By enhancing research capacity, countries can generate localized data and improve access to safe, effective, and environmentally responsible pest control options for farmers.

Partnership and Networking

Minor Use Foundation serves as a facilitator, connecting stakeholders to create strategic partnerships that promote innovation and sustainability. Through these networks, countries can leverage expertise, share data, and collectively work towards improving agricultural policies and trade opportunities.

Promoting Ownership in Countries to Initiate Minor Use Programs

Encouraging countries to develop their own minor use programs enhances agricultural self-sufficiency and regulatory efficiency. The Foundation assists in building frameworks that allow governments to adapt international best practices to their specific agricultural needs. By promoting local ownership, countries can foster innovation, streamline regulatory approvals, and increase access to crop protection tools that benefit smallholder farmers.

Agricultural Diversification

Diversifying agricultural production reduces dependency on a few staple crops and enhances food security and economic resilience. Specialty crops such as fruits, vegetables, and spices offer high-value market opportunities for farmers while contributing to biodiversity. The Foundation supports initiatives that encourage diversification by providing technical support, market linkages, and knowledge-sharing platforms for growers.

Advocating Minor Use Crops Production, Consumption, and Trade

Specialty crops often lack adequate support in terms of market access, regulatory approvals, and pest control solutions. The Foundation advocates for policies and investments that recognize the economic and nutritional value of minor use crops. By working with policymakers, industry stakeholders, and international trade bodies, Minor Use Foundation aims to enhance the production, distribution, and global trade of these crops, benefiting both farmers and consumers.

Climate Smart Agricultural Practices

Minor Use Foundation promotes climate-smart agricultural practices that enhance resilience, such as integrated pest management, regenerative farming, and precision agriculture. By encouraging sustainable farming methods, the Foundation helps growers mitigate climate-related risks while maintaining productivity and environmental sustainability.

Sustainable Development Goals

By addressing the needs of specialty crop growers and working with the countries, Minor Use Foundation’s strategy will contribute to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the following are the Minor Use Foundation’s Strategic Goals for 2025-2028:

Goal 1: Amplify International Attention and Investment in Specialty Crops
Goal 2: Promote A Regenerative Approach to Agriculture through Increased Biodiversity
Goal 3: Catalyze Public-Private Partnership to Facilitate the Trade of Specialty Crops
Goal 4: Facilitate Smallholder Uptake of Safe Crop Protection Technology

Goal 1. Amplify International Attention and Investment in Specialty Crops

Programs that support minor use registrations are particularly crucial for developing countries in the Global South, where agriculture plays a central role in both the economy and food security. Specialty crops—such as tropical fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs—are often key exports for these countries, contributing significantly to their GDP and trade balance. For example, the global spice market alone was valued at over $18 billion in 2022, with countries like India, Indonesia, and Vietnam being leading producers. However, these crops often suffer from the lack of locally adapted pest management solutions, as most agrochemical companies prioritize crops grown on a massive scale in developed countries. By developing their own minor use programs, these countries can create a favorable enabling environment through regulatory incentives to facilitate the registration and legal uptake of crop protection tools to address specialty crop needs, thereby enhancing both food security and export potential.

Establishing minor use programs in developing countries would not only help protect local specialty crops from pests and diseases but also boost their economic competitiveness in global markets. Specialty crops are often critical for smallholder farmers, who rely on them as a source of income and food. In regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, many farmers grow products such as cocoa, coffee, and cashew nuts, which are highly demanded internationally. However, without access to pest management solutions tailored to these crops, yields can be severely impacted, limiting both domestic consumption and export potential. By creating programs focused on developing low-risk, cost-effective pest control solutions, these countries could significantly increase the productivity and quality of their specialty crops, improving their global market standing and fostering regenerative agricultural growth.

Finally, by developing a framework for these programs, countries can foster local innovation in agricultural research and build resilience against climate change-related agricultural challenges.

Activities:

Develop an internationally accepted guidance document for governments interested in developing minor use programs in partnership with the FAO. Building on existing international guidance documents
Facilitate data-sharing
Launch a social media and outreach campaign including liaising with donors and influential organizations to promote the importance of investments in specialty crops.
Identify opportunities for extrapolation or accepting foreign data and facilitating stakeholder cooperation to secure minor use registrations.
Conduct capacity-building workshops to build awareness of the benefits of minor use programs and the Codex crop grouping classification code.

Goal 2. Promote A Regenerative Approach to Agriculture through Increased Biodiversity

Agricultural biodiversity is a pillar of regenerative agriculture. Biodiversity supports soil health and leads to increased resilience. The Foundation takes a holistic, inclusive, and practical approach; supporting growers to access crop protection tools that will work for their context.

Activities:

Identify the most sustainable and efficacious approach to managing pest and disease pressures for specialty crop growers and take appropriate to register those solutions.
Conduct training for growers, academia, regulators, and researchers on best practices in the application of chemicals in agriculture (i.e. equipment, PPE, storage, etc.).
Develop a video library of best agricultural practices that we will post on our website and disseminate on social media.

Goal 3. Catalyze Public-Private Partnership to Facilitate the Trade of Safe Food

Gaps in information and inefficiencies at a broad, systemic level contribute to major yield losses at the farm level for specialty crops and economic losses in potential trade. For example, registrants and governments are often not aware of specific minor use needs that growers have. Growers are often not aware of the complex and dynamic set of requirements for exporting their commodity to each individual country around the world.

The Foundation identifies those inefficiencies across stakeholder groups and addresses them by connecting regulators, growers, and researchers, and catalyzing projects with buy-in from all relevant stakeholders that affect change. What makes these projects effective is the trust we build between the different parties, the sound scientific foundation that underpins them, and the coordination and accountability we create for a common goal.

Ultimately, building relationships and changing channels of communication often leads to long-lasting change that is powerful, although llargely intangible. However, increasing market acccess and the trade of specialty crops can be measured in changes in economic growth and increased consumption of nutritious food.

Activities:

Facilitate deeper and more effective communication between grower groups and regulators to effectively address emerging pest and disease issues for specialty crops.
Serve as a focal point for information-sharing and dialogue about minor use needs more generally. Lead international technical collaboration to advance joint reviews and data-sharing initiatives.
Support trade facilitative, international standard-setting bodies such as Codex Alimentarius and the Joint Expert Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) by enabling countries to more fully participate in them and conduct technical tasks/research to support its decision making.

Goal 4. Facilitate Uptake of Agricultural Technology for Specialty Crops

Technologies such as machine learning, biotechnology, drone operations, and remote sensing, are the future of agriculture. They will change agriculture fundamentally by reducing labor costs, reducing input needs, and increasing sustainability. Recognizing the crucial role that technological advancement plays in growers’ lives, Minor Use Foundation focuses on creating impactful linkages that enhance pest and disease management. Beyond pesticides and biopesticides, we identify new agricultural technologies and assess how they can be effectively integrated into the Foundation’s workstreams, including scoping opportunities and developing a clear value proposition for their adoption.

Activities:

Partner with experts from crop protection and other agricultural technology companies to leverage digital tools in our projects and mainstream where possible into projects and training.
Understand and amplify the benefits of precision agriculture, machine learning, biotechnology, etc. where appropriate to support smallholder specialty crop farmers

^[1] Specialty crops are defined as high-value agricultural products, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, and spices, that contribute to food security by enhancing dietary diversity, nutrition, and economic resilience. These crops can require specialized cultivation practices, and play a critical role in sustainable agricultural systems and market diversification.

^[2] https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/57f76ed9-6f19-4872-98b4-6e1c3e796213/content