“Humanity needs to eat, and its crops are continuously under attack,” said Luigi Guarino, Science Coordinator at the Global Crop Diversity Trust. “They therefore need to be continuously improved, and you can only do that if you have access to genetic diversity.”

The Global Crop Diversity Trust is headquartered in Rome and strives to ensure just that by providing continuous funding, through public and private means, for collections of crop diversity in the foreseeable future, Guarino explained.

In partnering with 19 Latin American genebanks, it aims to expand the placement of its crop specimens globally to better protect them from climate change and other threats. The revitalization is part of a worldwide effort involving 88 countries, in which the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working to ensure the continued survival of germplasm, or the sum of genetic resources available to a species.

If you’ve never thought about where the seeds for your tomatoes, peppers, coffee or chocolate come from, you are not alone. Most people haven’t, said Guarino, adding that the process whereby genetic information is preserved for later use is all too often taken for granted.
When farmers plant crops, they usually use a small number of varieties, which then become vulnerable to various environmental stressors. Maintaining genetically diverse crop collections becomes crucial in protecting the plants against their natural enemies, said David Walker, a plant research geneticist working with the USDA Agricultural Research Services.

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