Safeguarding the Future of US Agriculture - Global Crop Diversity Trust

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Fusarium head blight, or scab, has already caused $3 billion in damage tothe US wheat and barley industries. New sources of resistance are needed toprotect these crops.The $1.8 billion US apple industry is vulnerable to destructive bacteriacausing the disease called fire blight, which is now showing resistance topesticides that once controlled it.All types of citrus cultivated in the U.S., where they generate $2 billionannually, are vulnerable to diseases such as citrus canker and citrus blight.In each of these cases, plant scientists are searching through domestic andinternational crop diversity collections to find genetic resistance to these diseases.Once those sources are identified, breeders can begin developing new diseaseresistantcrop varieties.But the importance of crop diversity to US agriculture goes beyond the fight againstdisease. Farmers today also must have access to new crops and more diversity withineach crop family if they are to stay abreast of a rapidly evolving market.US agriculture needs global collections of crop diversity to improvethe health value of foods and to meet changing consumer demand.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has noted several majorfood trends in America today: higher incomes are spurring demand for higherquality foods; an aging population wants healthier foods; increasing numbers ofpeople want organically-grown foods; and an increasingly diverse populationdesires foods used in ethnic dishes. In each case, satisfying consumer demand willdepend on access to the genetic diversity of crops.For example, consumer interest in health has sent farmers in search of cropvarieties that have enhanced nutritional value, and for varieties of newly popularexotic produce that are adaptable to US growing conditions. Maintaining the rapidgrowth of organic food production in the U.S.—now an $11 billion industry—isespecially dependent on genetic variation. When disease or pests threaten, strictprohibitions on using pesticides or genetically modified varieties make naturallyobtained disease resistance one of the few alternatives available to organicfarmers.The United States has a stake in conserving global crop diversity as ameans to help solve the related problems of economic development,hunger, and environmental quality in the developing world.A United Nations (UN) report recently cited the importance of geneticallyimproved crop varieties and native crop genetic resources as a way to boostproduction on subsistence farms, where half of the world’s 800 million chronicallyhungry people now reside.Crop varieties stored in genebanks are also playing a prominent role in reinvigoratingagricultural production in areas hit by the 2004 tsunami and in post-SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE OF U.S. AGRICULTURE vii
war Afghanistan and Iraq, just as they did in Cambodia following the ravages of theKhmer Rogue and in Rwanda following that country’s ethnic genocide.There is clearly a large demand for the services provided by genebanks, whether tomaintain the economic vitality of US agriculture, meet constantly evolving marketdemands, or, by spurring recovery in areas suffering from war or natural disaster, toenhance global security.But international crop diversity collections are under stress, and global capacity isnot keeping pace with demands. For example, of the 1,460 facilities housingcollected materials, only 35 meet international standards for long-term storage. In1996, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that up to1 million of the 5.4 million samples held in the world’s collections aredegenerating, and that number has increased in the years since. Many collectionsare losing vast amounts of genetic material through mundane but devastatingevents such as power outages, a lack of resources to regenerate decaying seed inold collections, and disease spreading within collections.Broader recognition of the important role played by crop diversity collections isneeded to spur a concerted effort directed toward their conservation and use. Withall the modern pressures working to diminish crop diversity, now is also a time ofexciting scientific discoveries that can greatly improve the performance ofgenebanks in assisting global agricultural production. In particular, the moleculartools of plant biotechnology allow scientists to screen plant samples for genes ofinterest and to then isolate this material and use it to breed new, improvedvarieties.Conservation is forever.Ultimately, the responsibility for safeguarding the world’s collections of cropdiversity should fall to governments, international organizations, and the privatesector acting in partnership to conserve this international public good inperpetuity. The scope of the task, its long-term nature, and the need for genebanksto be easily accessible to researchers and farmers all require strong publicinvolvement.A solution is at hand. Established in 2004, the Global Crop Diversity Trust is onevehicle for sustaining this partnership. The Trust is an independent internationalorganization with the goal of assuring the long-term security of the world’s mostimportant collections of crop diversity. It is the product of a partnership betweenthe FAO and the 15 Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Trust is building a $260 millionendowment, through donations from national governments, philanthropicfoundations, and private corporations, the interest income of which will be used tofund the costs of crop diversity conservation into perpetuity, as well as to salvagecollections at risk and build the capacity of developing countries to manage theircollections.In an age when all agriculture is interconnected—whether by trade, the exchangeof genetic resources, or the spread of disease—the economic vitality of USviiiSUMMARY
Page 1 and 2: Safeguarding the Futureof U.S. Agri
Page 3 and 4: This report is published by the Uni
Page 5 and 6: © CIATThe internationalgenebank at
Page 7: crop disease in the United States m
Page 11 and 12: Soybeans are growntoday on more tha
Page 13 and 14: © USDA-ARSThe National Center forG
Page 15 and 16: ox 1 (cont.)Major National Collecti
Page 17 and 18: © USDA-ARS, Scott BauerThe strawbe
Page 19 and 20: can only be done with access to gen
Page 21 and 22: © E. Fouré, INIBAPA major threat
Page 23 and 24: cause a devastating stalk rot. The
Page 25 and 26: Plant scientists with the USDA and
Page 27 and 28: Apple scab (caused by Venturia inae
Page 29 and 30: unavailable. Control of aphids has
Page 31 and 32: © USDA-ARS, Keith WellerFoods like
Page 33 and 34: YES, We Have Bananas, and Plaintain
Page 35 and 36: Seminis Seeds: Breeding Healthbox 3
Page 37 and 38: © IPGRI, Amanda KingProviding poor
Page 39 and 40: © FAO, P. Lowreyhandicapped by poo
Page 41 and 42: agricultural sector. When Khmer agr
Page 43 and 44: © USDA-ARS, Scott BauerA study has
Page 45 and 46: former Soviet Union and Eastern Eur
Page 47 and 48: The first was an analysis of the ec
Page 49 and 50: give more attention to plant geneti
Page 51 and 52: © IPGRIEnsuring that cropdiversity
Page 53 and 54: every year, rather than replant the
Page 55 and 56: Footnotes1234567J.L. Sherwood, J. F

Safeguarding the Future of US Agriculture - Global Crop Diversity Trust

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