All About
Beans

Little beans, Big health

It is the pioneer in systematically linking local seed diversity to healthy food for sustainable production and consumption in climate change adaptation.

We use beans as a pilot project to raise awareness and understanding of the relevance and universality of healthy diets and biodiversity conservation, food system transformation, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development goals. We link multiple stakeholders, including farmers, consumers, policymakers, and scientists.

Project Background

Beans, a cornerstone of farming, nourish people and landscapes. In 2015, we launched "Save Small Beans for Big Health" to conserve neglected native bean varieties, collaborating with scientists and farmers to establish community seed banks, train farmers, and integrate bio-cultural knowledge, aiming to restore cultivation and provide high-quality, flavorful bean products.

In 2022, we partnered with the Vanke Foundation to launch the “Small Beans, Big Health" project (formally titled “Small Beans and Big Health: A Biodiversity Perspective in the Context of Climate Change"). This initiative focuses on soybeans, a native crop to China, aiming to revitalize local bean production and consumption across the country, connecting farmers to consumers through a sustainable “from seed to table” approach. It also examines the broader significance of bean-based foods in areas like nutrition, public health, folk traditions, and cultural identity.