b'varieties that can address climate change, pest and disease resistance and yield to help manage food security.About 100 seed banks exist worldwide with seed used for cultural or heritage purposes and for production. CIMMYT has varieties that have been cultivated, conserved and cherished as grain and food crops for thousands of years, says Tom Payne, head of the non-profit organizations wheat germplasm collec-tions and International Wheat Improvement Network. Our seed bank conserves varieties that can be a source for finding old genes that will solve new problems. We have to have that diver-sity to address changing production environments.Soybean breeders have dealt with traditionally limited genetic diversity in that crop by sourcing the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection maintained at the University of Illinois. The collection is the largest in the world and distributes more than 20,000 seed samples across at least 25 countries each year for research. In addition to publicly developed varieties and research lines fromMaize and wheat are two crops that CIMMYT focuses on. Here around the globe, the collection includes wild perennial species. they are growing side by side at the CIMMYT experimental station Genetic diversity is the foundation for developing new varie- El Batn. ties, says Payne. In the case of wheat, the gene pool is robust. Breeders have used it to solve local production issues for 100security remains seed banks, says Payne. There is a place in years. CIMMYT does not release varieties, we depend on part- crop improvement for new technologies, whether that is tissue nerships with private and public entities, including universities, toculture, genomics, transgenics or something else, but they alone evaluate and multiply seed so it can ultimately reach farmers.will not save the world. It would be an enormous gamble to think Payne says public-private partnerships are encouraged suchtechnology will make other seed production processes obsolete. that market incentives are available for private companies to getIt will take public-private partnerships, collaborations and more involved and earn income from seed sales that can be put backto feed the world.into conservation, research and development. The foundation of the future for crop production and foodPreservation for the FutureAs seed seekers, seed keepers and seed growers look to the future, one thing is certain: diversity and preservation are critical to meeting both cultural and food production needs worldwide.At the same time, Payne notes that major crops in produc-tion today in developed countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and in Europe are not native to those areas. We should have a great amount of gratitude for countries where that seed originated. Those farmers domesticated and conserved the seed that gave us genetic diversity, he says. While we may argue we are feeding the world, we wouldnt be able to do it without Indigenous growers.A give-and-take relationship should be established and con-tinued with original seed keepers. Emphasis should be on com-bining knowledge, such as university partners learning traditional farming methods and tribe partners learning about new technol-ogy. It should include Indigenous persons interested in research, data collection, analysis and dissemination, says Hilborn.Payne adds that farmers in many developing countries continue to grow traditional varieties and wild crop relatives that could still be tapped for diversity and preserved in seed banks. Payne encourages stakeholders concerned with cultural and nutritional preservation to see that major progress in variety development can be attained from open sharing of seed and germplasm.National and international gene banks must be preserved as resources for crop production challenges, he says. The link between seed banks and public and private breeders is critical to maintain to be able to select traits that will solve the food secu-rity problems of the future.SW62/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020'