Agriculture & Food Systems Institute

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, afsi continued its strong programs in support of agricultural innovation and regulation for public benefit. Highlights and accomplishments for the year include: as part of the south asia biosafety program (sabp), afsi organized the "conference on genome editing for agriculture in bangladesh" on february 11, 2024 in dhaka to raise awareness about the publication of the "standard operating procedures (sop) for research and release of genome edited plants of categories sdn-1 and sdn-2,2023," attracting 129 in-person attendees. Afsi organized the workshop "bolstering asean food security through partnership and cooperation on agricultural biotechnology" in jakarta, indonesia on march 4-6, 2024, which was hosted by the asean secretariat and supported by the united states department of agriculture (usda) and the department of state. All 11 asean member and observer states were represented, with 44 total participants sharing their expertise and exchanging ideas. Supported by a grant from the usda foreign agricultural service (fas) emerging markets program (emp), afsi organized the "environmental risk assessment workshop: non-target organism testing," in cooperation with the usda agricultural research service (ars), Iowa state university, and corteva agriscience, on june 24-28, 2024, for eight participants from the USA, indonesia, nigeria, and kenya. Afsi implemented the "workshop on moving forward on agricultural biotechnology through continuing efforts on regulatory cooperation in apec" on august 14, 2024 in trujillo, peru, prior to the apec hlpdab plenary meeting. The full-day in-person event welcomed over 40 participants, representing canada, chinese taipei, indonesia, japan, the republic of korea, malaysia, mexico, peru, the philippines, russia, thailand, vietnam, and the USA. During the event, a draft of the policy approaches document for regulatory cooperation on agricultural biotechnology (pad)was presented to participants, along with its companion website (biotechpolicyportal.org), both of which afsi will continue to work on in 2025. Afsi organized on the fourth training event in the workshop series "gene edited plants: context and communication for plant breeding innovation" on december 10-11, 2024 in daejeon, south korea. Spanning two days, "enabling regulatory environment for genome editing in agriculture in south korea: opportunities & possibilities" brought together a diverse set of 52 stakeholders working on agricultural biotechnology in south korea, including scientists and experts from the public and private sectors.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 93.7%; rating input score 94
• Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Limited
  • Conducts field audits: Limited
  • May suspend future funding: Limited
  • Requires financial reports: Limited
  • Conducts site visits: Limited
  • Requires grant agreements: Pass
  • May require repayment: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -17.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.71; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 30.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -5.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -7.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings