GREEN Foundation’s intervention commenced as a modest effort with five women farmers and a handful of seeds in Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu in 1996. With its passion, commitment and dedication to conservation of bio diversity and improvement in livelihoods of marginal and subsistence farmers, its activities currently benefit 3245 farmers across 291 villages.

VISION
Sustaining rural livelihoods by conserving bio-diversity in agriculture, which is ecologically sound and economically beneficial to ensure food security to small and marginal farmers (and to the country).

MISSSION

• On farm conservation of local genetic resources and making value addition
• To create and promote resource center on bio-diversity and research center on participatory plant breeding and experimentation
• Networking national and international institutions involved in bio-diversity conservation
• Promotion of organic farming, sustainable agriculture and rival of cultural diversity
• Empowering rural women and resource poor farmers to create and sustain village level institutions

Over the past decade, GREEN Foundation’s interventions have touched upon different dimensions of sustainable agriculture that have helped the farmers in securing seed, food and better livelihoods.

GF, in association with the farming community, has been successful in reviving the genetic resource base essential for the survival of small and marginal farmers by bringing together the socio-economic, ecological, cultural and gender-specific aspects of conserving bio-diversity.

The Foundation’s initiatives relating to on-farm conservation and sustainable agriculture has led to multi-stakeholder partnership between farmers, scientists and consumers in deploying traditional knowledge forms of biodiversity conservation and sustainable agricultural practice and consumption patterns that are constantly validated and improved  through scientific research.

"In February 2004 the Foundation was one among seven outstanding community initiatives, drawn from a pool of 340 nominations worldwide, to be awarded the United Nations 'Equator Initiative' prize in recognition of its outstanding community effort for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation over a decade."