Global agriculture faces unprecedented challenges.

There is no single solution to tackling them, but the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals recognise that it is critical to conserve the diversity of the plants and animals we farm.

Much of the agricultural diversity once found in farmers’ fields has disappeared. Concerned it would be lost forever, scientists have spent the last 100 years travelling the world, collecting samples of roots and tubers and seeds in order to safeguard them for posterity.

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