NYBG: Uniting Botanic Gardens and Genebanks Around Food Plant Diversity
25 September 2026
This year, the Crop Trust, New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), Wageningen University & Research and other partners are hosting Crop Diversity Day 2026 in the garden alongside NYC Climate Week. The day will celebrate crop diversity in healthy diets and discuss the important role of botanical gardens and genebanks in conserving the food plants that feed us all. A new paper informs these discussions, setting out how closer collaboration between genebanks and botanic gardens can help protect the future of food.
Co-authored by Colin Khoury, Crop Trust Executive Director Stefan Schmitz and colleagues, the paper builds a scientific foundation for discussions on conserving and using food plant diversity for healthier diets. In a story from NYBG, Khoury explains the benefits that come from these two communities working together.
The paper outlines that most plant species are not yet protected in gardens or genebanks, even as more species are threatened by environmental and societal change. It makes sense for those in conservation to work more closely together to become better stewards of the diversity of food plants.
Through collaboration, genebanks stand to benefit from access to wider botanical knowledge, collecting and conservation partnerships, and greater public awareness of their efforts. Botanic gardens gain access to conservation and information infrastructure, and can participate more directly in the crop diversity research and plant breeding pipelines that underpin global food security.
These opportunities for greater impact are more important than ever in a time of decreasing funding and public awareness about the importance of protecting our food plants to secure the future of food.