With this first issue of Fresh!, we are celebrating the launching of our Golden Jubilee Year.

Founded in 1971 and with operations starting in 1973 as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) with a focus on tropical Asia, today the work of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) spans the globe. Headquartered in Taiwan, with regional bases in Benin, Mali, Tanzania, India and Thailand, the Center has about 350 staff dedicated to the mission of realizing the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.

This year we will celebrate half a century of achievements, and we will look ahead at the future of vegetables. Our mission is now more relevant than ever. This Golden Jubilee year will allow us to reflect on how to further our efforts to seeing healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods through a greater diversity in what we grow and eat.

Celebrations will culminate at the WorldVeg 50^th anniversary event from 03-04 November at our headquarters, when we will host many visitors and open our doors to the public. This will be preceded by a Vegetable Science Day on 02 November and a number of other events.

Our anniversary logo symbolizes our happy mood and the diversity and colorfulness of the world of vegetables! The slogan “sowing seeds, meeting needs” encapsulates our approach and impact at many levels. Seed is our core ‘business’. We are proud to be the custodians of the largest publicly available collection of vegetable seed in the world and proud of our breeding programs that have resulted in many varieties of a great number of crops making a difference in farmers’ fields. Whilst we work with farmers who sow and grow, we also sow the seeds of knowledge working in partnership around the world. Knowledge about how to grow the seeds safely, how to arrive at better yields and quality products in the field and throughout the year, how to reduce post-harvest losses and add value through processing, and how to reduce the environmental footprint of the vegetable sector. More and more we are also placing our work in a food systems context, with adequate attention to demand and policy considerations.

In ‘meeting needs’, we refer to the needs of people for safe and healthier diets, for more resilient livelihoods of youth, women, farmers and all those who work along vegetable value chains, and for healthier soils, more resilient farming systems, and for a healthier environment in general. We have had tremendous impact with our varieties, production and post-harvest technologies working in partnership and strengthening capacities, in particular in Africa and Asia.

This first edition of Fresh! may look a little different, but contains the usual quarterly updates of our work over the last few months, and looks ahead at activities and events to come. We are also working on a new website that will allow you to more clearly visualize all our activities and impacts, and improve the ease of finding any of our ‘knowledge products’ – training videos, toolkits, extension leaflets, scientific papers and more. This will evolve as the year progresses, to better meet your needs. Please get in touch with us if you want to make any requests or suggestions.

We hope you enjoy reading this selection of some of our work.

I am very proud of all that we continue to achieve, with my heartful thanks to the sterling efforts of all WorldVeg staff, and the continued support from our many partners and funders.

Best wishes

Marco Wopereis

Director general