“We are impressed with the HeinzSeed Program’s contribution to sustainable agriculture,” said Eric Chivian, MD, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and a 1985 co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. “The program is proof that the pursuit of profit does not have to be at odds with social responsibility. Rather, when done right, it can produce beneficial results for all of society.”

The goal of HeinzSeed is to help farmers improve their quality of life while reducing the negative environmental impact of over-reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers and conserving limited water resources. Created using traditional breeding techniques, Heinz seeds allow farmers around the world to produce high yields of quality tomatoes without genetic modification.

The program has been particularly successful in China, where Heinz has worked with the country’s largest tomato processor and government officials to identify tomato varieties that thrive in China’s soil and climate. Heinz has taken a similar approach in Egypt and the Ukraine. The Company has recently begun a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development for a program in the economically distressed Upper Nile region of Egypt. Heinz is now working with a local NGO who is organizing Egyptian farmers into cooperatives to achieve economically successful and sustainable production of tomatoes for processing.

“We are honored that the HeinzSeed Program is being recognized by Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment,” said Bill Johnson, Chairman, President and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company. “Heinz believes that by sharing our unparalleled seed technology and introducing sustainable farming techniques to developing nations we will make a positive economic and environmental impact.”