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SUMMARY:Endangered genes and the International Seed Bank: conserving crop 
 diversity after the Green Revolution - Dr Helen Curry\, University of Camb
 ridge
DTSTART:20190129T130000Z
DTEND:20190129T140000Z
UID:TALK118009@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lucy Goodman
DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will explore the history of efforts to conserve
  genetic diversity in crop plants\, focusing on a pivotal moment in the ea
 rly 1970s when the perceived endangerment of this diversity reached new he
 ights. The late 1960s saw a succession of "high yielding varieties"\, espe
 cially of wheat and rice\, sweep across regions of Asia\, Latin America\, 
 and the Middle East. This process was assumed to entail the rapid displace
 ment\, and potentially irrecoverable loss\, of landraces (local varieties)
  of those same crops and all the genetic potential they contained within t
 hem. Although early conservation strategizing focused on the unification o
 f scattered and mostly dysfunctional national and regional seed banks into
  an international operation with strict oversight\, competing visions of c
 onservation followed in rapid succession. Here I elaborate briefly on thre
 e alternative instruments proposed in the 1970s: data generation\, communi
 ty seed banks\, and participatory breeding. As becomes apparent in the com
 parison\, these varied approaches assumed different vulnerabilities of and
  threats to crop diversity.\n
LOCATION:Hardy Building 101 (first floor)\, Downing Site\, Cambridge
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