On the eve of World Food Day 2009, Gates spoke passionately about the need to consider and apply biotechnological solutions to help poor farmers increase food production, particularly with climate change threating future yields in the tropics and subtropics. Gates believes transgenic crops 'can help address farmers’ challenges faster and more efficiently than conventional breeding alone.' Especially in places such as Africa where drought and disease have prevented food production from keeping pace with population growth and demand.

Researchers at FSE are supporting further scientific study into crop breeding and investment priorities in Africa in a new project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Prioritizing Investments in Food Security Under a Changing Climate. The work will assess climate threats to staple food crops at a country level, quantify the sources of uncertainty inherent in these assessments, and determine what implications shifts in crop climates have for agricultural adaptation and genetic resources preservation.