Semilla Nueva has been named the 2024 F.M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact winner. This is a huge honor and provides $150,000 to support our work at a critical moment when governments in El Salvador and Guatemala are investing in piloting our model to achieve the widespread adoption of biofortified corn seeds. Funded by the…

Vinicio Yoj is an agricultural supply distributor in Peten, Guatemala’s largest and northernmost department. Three years ago, while purchasing products for his business, he discovered Semilla Nueva’s biofortified seeds and decided to try them. “I planted them for two years for my family’s consumption and was very impressed by their yield and the quality of the grain,”…

In February, Semilla Nueva launched its first gene editing project with scientists at the University of Wisconsin. This technology could transform Semilla Nueva’s ability to scale biofortified maize. “Imagine a pair of tiny precision scissors that allow us to insert a gene for nutrition into the DNA of a maize variety known for its high yields…

Glenn Haughie and his late wife Marlys, childhood sweethearts from Clarkfield, Minnesota, shared a deep passion for improving the lives of others. They married just before Glenn began studies at Harvard Medical School in 1961. After graduating, Glenn worked as a public health physician at the county and state levels in New York. In the 1980s and…

Beltrán Ventura Tum developed a deep respect for the land and a love of farming by accompanying his father to the field as a young boy. “From the time I was little, my father stressed the importance of respecting and caring for the land, and I saw him take great pride in his work,” Beltrán explains.…

Elisa Hernández, one of Semilla Nueva’s 10 Commercial Technical Advisors, known by the Spanish acronym ATCs, is passionate about her work. “Every year, I work with over 400 small farming families who can transform their lives using our seeds,” she says. Semilla Nueva’s ATCs are crucial to expanding the use of biofortified seeds in Guatemala.…