Agricultural research scientist Rajeev Varshney, elected to TWAS in 2016 and currently serving as the director of the Centre for Crop and Food Innovation at Murdoch University (Australia), has been recognized as a 2026 Top Agri-food Pioneer (TAP) by the World Food Prize Foundation. He is also incoming vice president-North for the new TWAS Council.
The TAP recognition honours exceptional innovators whose work redefines the boundaries of agriculture, turning scientific discoveries into practical solutions that improve livelihoods, resilience, and food security.
Prior to joining Murdoch University, Varshney served for almost 17 years in both scientific and leadership roles at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and for five years as a research scientist at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, in Germany.
His whole career has been dedicated to expanding the frontiers of crop genomics and crop improvement. With a particular focus on legumes and dryland crops, as well as climate-resilient agriculture and nutrition security, Varshney has worked to ensure that improvements in breeding technologies reach farming communities that face the greatest challenges in terms of productivity, resilience, and sustainable food systems.
He has exploited a plant breeding approach called ‘pangenome-guided breeding’ that uses a collection of genes found across different individuals of a species as a reference genome. This approach allows to identify beneficial genes that are absent from a single reference genome; combine desirable traits from different genetic backgrounds; and obtain improved crop varieties faster and with more precision.
Varshney's leadership of the Tropical Legumes Project helped turn cutting-edge crop science into tangible benefits for smallholder farming communities. The project generated unprecedented results, producing 266 improved crop varieties, nearly 500,000 tonnes of certified seeds, and enhancing livelihoods for 25 million farmers across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition, Varshney has personally trained more than 500 plant breeders from 36 countries, helping to shape the next generation of leaders in agricultural innovation worldwide.
A Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and more than a dozen science academies including The Royal Society, German National Science Academy (Leopoldina), Africa Academy of Sciences, Australian Academy of Science, he has been recently elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
The 2026 TAP award recognizes 40 leaders from around the world, who represent 30 countries and a wide range of professions including scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and farmers.
Cristina Serra