News

Key messages

CGIAR genebanks work closely with germplasm health units (GHUs) to ensure that the plant material they send is safe to cross borders. The GHUs have had a huge economic impact in recipient countries. IRRI’s...

CGIAR genebanks are using cryopreservation for the long-term conservation of crops that can’t be stored as seeds.

Molecules in living organisms are always racing around. That movement is what keeps us alive – and what...

Take home messages

Potato landraces collected in farmers’ fields are being “repatriated” back to the farmers. A study was conducted to determine how long Andean farmers continue to use repatriated landraces after...

'Curcurbits' isn't really a term we use around the dinner table ... but we sure love to eat them. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, musk melons, chayote ... and don't forget the egusi melons. They are all curcubits, and...

Genebank experts supported by the Crop Trust’s BOLD (Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development) Project recently visited the Vietnam National Genebank to evaluate its efforts to conserve crop diversity. Vietnam...

Take home messages

Four out of every 10 Nigerian cowpea farmers surveyed are growing an improved cowpea variety that can link its ancestry back to a genebank The use of improved varieties has not diminished the diversity...

Longyearbyen, Svalbard, 28 February 2023 – As part of its 15th anniversary celebrations, today the Svalbard Global Seed Vault welcomes 20 genebank depositors. 19,585 seed samples will enter the Seed Vault, including collections...

15 Years of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault:

New deposit from 20 genebanks and a new virtual tour to celebrate the remote Arctic seed store

The wild, weedy relatives of our cultivated crops display all kinds of useful traits their domesticated cousins lack – traits that could make our agriculture more resilient to future challenges.

But it takes a lot of time and...

The peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), also known as groundnut, is native to South America but is now grown throughout the tropics and subtropics. There, this delicious legume is a subsistence crop for many, as well as an important...

This Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating the importance of crop diversity with a series of cards you can print and give to your loved ones. Scroll to the bottom of this post to download them.