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Cary Fowler

Biodiversity warrior Cary Fowler wants to save the world from agricultural collapse, one seed at a time.

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Cary Fowler Biography

Dr. Fowler is perhaps best known as the "father" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, described by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as an "inspirational symbol of peace and food security for the entire humanity." The Seed Vault provides ultimate security for more than 850,000 unique crop varieties, the raw material for all future plant breeding and crop improvement efforts. He proposed the creation of this Arctic facility to Norway, headed the international committee that developed the plan for its establishment, and now chairs the international council that oversees its operations.

In the early 1990s, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recruited Dr. Fowler to lead the team to produce the first global assessment of the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources. He was responsible for drafting and negotiating the first FAO Global Plan of Action on the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources, formally adopted by 150 countries in 1996. Following this, Dr. Fowler served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit and represented the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR/World Bank) in negotiations on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. He chaired a series of Nordic government sponsored informal meetings of 15 countries to facilitate negotiations for this treaty.

In 2005 Dr. Fowler was chosen to lead the new Global Crop Diversity Trust, an international organization housed at the UN's FAO in Rome. This position carried international diplomatic status. During his tenure, he built a sizable endowment and raised additional funds for international programs to conserve crop diversity and make it available for plant breeding. The Trust successfully implemented a global project to rescue 90,000 threatened crop varieties in developing countries and is now engaged in an effort to collect, conserve and pre-breed the wild relatives of more than 25 major crops.

In 2015, US President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Fowler to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

Dr. Fowler is vice-chair of the Board of Trustees of Rhodes College. He serves on the boards of the NY Botanical Garden Corporation, the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and the Amy Goldman Charitable Trust. He is a former member of the National Plant Genetic Resources Board (appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture) and former board and executive committee member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. He chaired the board of The Livestock Conservancy for two terms.

Dr. Fowler attended Rhodes College in Memphis before transferring to Simon Fraser University in Canada where he received a B.A. (honors - first class) degree. He earned his Ph.D. at Uppsala University in Sweden. Dr. Fowler was a professor at the Norwegian University of Live Sciences for a number of years and a visiting professor at the University of California - Davis. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

He is the author of Shattering: Food, Politics and the Loss of Genetic Diversity, and a more academic book, Unnatural Selection: Technology, Politics and Plant Evolution, as well as Seeds on Ice: Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault.

Cary Fowler is the recipient of several awards: the Right Livelihood Award, the Vavilov Medal, the Heinz Award, Bette Middler's Wind Beneath My Wings Award, the William Brown Award of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Citizen Leadership, and three honorary doctorates. He is one of two foreign elected members of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Dr. Fowler has been profiled in various major media: The New Yorker, CBS 60 Minutes, New Scientist and Wired Magazine, and is the subject of an award-winning feature-length documentary film, Seeds of Time. He has given a TED Talk, lectured widely at universities, and given hundreds of TV, radio and print media interviews.

Originally from Tennessee, Cary Fowler makes his home on a small farm in the Hudson Valley of New York. He tends an orchard of more than 100 apple varieties and is engaged in the breeding of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) as a hobby. The farm is home to a small herd of Red Poll cattle, a flock of Buckeye chickens (both rare breeds) and many amusing runner ducks and Pilgrim geese.

Videos
Books
Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity

Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity

News
  • Bank-bank-vault-americanway

    Circling above Spitsbergen, Norway, about 800 miles from the North Pole, you can look down and see the door to what some call the Doomsday? Vault. The setting is austere — not a tree in sight — but also beautiful, with snow slathered like cake frosting on the mountain below. Seen from a plane, the vault looks like no big deal; just a metal box jutting out from an Arctic mountain. But behind...

  • Inside The Global Seed Vault, Where The History And Future Of Agriculture Is Stored

    Seeds on Ice author Cary Fowler describes the underground tunnel near the North Pole, which stores and protects a collection of 933,000 samples of different, unique crop varieties.

FAQs
  • How do I book Cary Fowler to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Cary Fowler for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Cary Fowler, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Cary Fowler or any other speaker of your choice.
  • What are the speaker fees for Cary Fowler

    Speaking fees for Cary Fowler, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Cary Fowler are under $10,000 for live events and available upon request for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Cary Fowler, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does Cary Fowler speak about?

    Cary Fowler is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Agriculture, Culture, Earth Day, Environment, Leadership Speakers, Speakers by Industry.
  • Where does Cary Fowler travel from?

    Cary Fowler generally travels from Hudson Valley, NY, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
  • Who is Cary Fowler’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Cary Fowler for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Cary Fowler for your next private or corporate function.
  • What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Cary Fowler or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.
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This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

Biodiversity warrior Cary Fowler wants to save the world from agricultural collapse, one seed at a time.

Travels From:
Hudson Valley, NY, USA
Speaking Fee:

Cary Fowler Biography

Dr. Fowler is perhaps best known as the "father" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, described by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as an "inspirational symbol of peace and food security for the entire humanity." The Seed Vault provides ultimate security for more than 850,000 unique crop varieties, the raw material for all future plant breeding and crop improvement efforts. He proposed the creation of this Arctic facility to Norway, headed the international committee that developed the plan for its establishment, and now chairs the international council that oversees its operations.

In the early 1990s, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recruited Dr. Fowler to lead the team to produce the first global assessment of the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources. He was responsible for drafting and negotiating the first FAO Global Plan of Action on the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources, formally adopted by 150 countries in 1996. Following this, Dr. Fowler served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit and represented the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR/World Bank) in negotiations on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. He chaired a series of Nordic government sponsored informal meetings of 15 countries to facilitate negotiations for this treaty.

In 2005 Dr. Fowler was chosen to lead the new Global Crop Diversity Trust, an international organization housed at the UN's FAO in Rome. This position carried international diplomatic status. During his tenure, he built a sizable endowment and raised additional funds for international programs to conserve crop diversity and make it available for plant breeding. The Trust successfully implemented a global project to rescue 90,000 threatened crop varieties in developing countries and is now engaged in an effort to collect, conserve and pre-breed the wild relatives of more than 25 major crops.

In 2015, US President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Fowler to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

Dr. Fowler is vice-chair of the Board of Trustees of Rhodes College. He serves on the boards of the NY Botanical Garden Corporation, the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and the Amy Goldman Charitable Trust. He is a former member of the National Plant Genetic Resources Board (appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture) and former board and executive committee member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. He chaired the board of The Livestock Conservancy for two terms.

Dr. Fowler attended Rhodes College in Memphis before transferring to Simon Fraser University in Canada where he received a B.A. (honors - first class) degree. He earned his Ph.D. at Uppsala University in Sweden. Dr. Fowler was a professor at the Norwegian University of Live Sciences for a number of years and a visiting professor at the University of California - Davis. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

He is the author of Shattering: Food, Politics and the Loss of Genetic Diversity, and a more academic book, Unnatural Selection: Technology, Politics and Plant Evolution, as well as Seeds on Ice: Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault.

Cary Fowler is the recipient of several awards: the Right Livelihood Award, the Vavilov Medal, the Heinz Award, Bette Middler's Wind Beneath My Wings Award, the William Brown Award of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Citizen Leadership, and three honorary doctorates. He is one of two foreign elected members of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Dr. Fowler has been profiled in various major media: The New Yorker, CBS 60 Minutes, New Scientist and Wired Magazine, and is the subject of an award-winning feature-length documentary film, Seeds of Time. He has given a TED Talk, lectured widely at universities, and given hundreds of TV, radio and print media interviews.

Originally from Tennessee, Cary Fowler makes his home on a small farm in the Hudson Valley of New York. He tends an orchard of more than 100 apple varieties and is engaged in the breeding of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) as a hobby. The farm is home to a small herd of Red Poll cattle, a flock of Buckeye chickens (both rare breeds) and many amusing runner ducks and Pilgrim geese.

Cary Fowler Videos

  • GoPro Cause: Forever Securing World Food Supply with Crop Trust
  • Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of f
    http://www.ted.com The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us...

Cary Fowler Books

FAQs on booking Cary Fowler

  • How do I book Cary Fowler to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Cary Fowler for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Cary Fowler, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Cary Fowler or any other speaker of your choice.
  • What are the speaker fees for Cary Fowler

    Speaking fees for Cary Fowler, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Cary Fowler are under $10,000 for live events and available upon request for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Cary Fowler, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does Cary Fowler speak about?

    Cary Fowler is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Agriculture, Culture, Earth Day, Environment, Leadership Speakers, Speakers by Industry.
  • Where does Cary Fowler travel from?

    Cary Fowler generally travels from Hudson Valley, NY, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
  • Who is Cary Fowler’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Cary Fowler for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Cary Fowler for your next private or corporate function.
  • What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Cary Fowler or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.

Cary Fowler is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book Cary Fowler for your event is $5,000 - $10,000. Cary Fowler generally travels from Hudson Valley, NY, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Jason Clay, Marcus Lemonis, Alex Laskey, Xavier Sala-i-Martin and David Trimble. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Cary Fowler for an upcoming live or virtual event.

Cary Fowler Speaker Videos

  • GoPro Cause: Forever Securing World Food Supply with Crop Trust
    Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of f
    http://www.ted.com The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside a vast global seed bank, buried within a...

Cary Fowler News

  • Bank-bank-vault-americanway

    Circling above Spitsbergen, Norway, about 800 miles from the North Pole, you can look down and see the door to what some call the Doomsday? Vault. The setting is austere — not a tree in sight — but also beautiful, with snow slathered like cake frosting on the mountain below. Seen from a plane, the vault looks like no big deal; just a metal box jutting out from an Arctic mountain. But behind...

  • Inside The Global Seed Vault, Where The History And Future Of Agriculture Is Stored

    Seeds on Ice author Cary Fowler describes the underground tunnel near the North Pole, which stores and protects a collection of 933,000 samples of different, unique crop varieties.

Tell us about your event!

During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours.

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Speakers Similar to Cary Fowler

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

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