It’s a big and important job to collect, identify, and safely store the seeds, fruits, cuttings, roots, and tubers that represent the foods we eat or what we may want to eat in the future — and then to do the same thing with their wild relatives. But the scientist’s job is not yet over. Germplasm, the name for seeds and other material that is needed in cultivating crops, now is used.

It is used by consumers, of course, when they sit down to eat their meals. It's also used by scientists in breeding projects that seek to produce better crops. “Better crops” can mean several things and it can mean different things to different people.

For some, it can mean foods that taste better and provide more nutrition. For others, it can mean crops that make more money for the scientists and corporations that “created” them. And for many agricultural scientists, “better crops” means plants that produce higher yields of the basic foods — rice, wheat, maize, potatoes — that Earth’s growing population needs in order to stay alive.

Click the following links to look at some of the ways that agricultural biodiversity is being used:

Breeding for resistance
How resistance works
A breeding plan that saved lives
Biotechnology
Overcoming the plateau

Next: Breeding — Agriculture home page — Glossary — Site map
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