What are plant genetic resources?
Do you know blue potatoes, white strawberries or green tomatoes? These almost forgotten, old varieties are currently experiencing a renaissance as a valuable plant genetic resource in plant breeding and among hobby gardeners.
Plant genetic resources are any genetic material of plant origin of actual or potential value for food and agriculture.
Why do we need to conserve plant genetic resources?
Plant genetic resources are an important economic resource. They are at the beginning of numerous value chains that lead to efficient plant varieties, new medicines or technical products.
The plant genetic resources that form the basis for these innovations either come from natural sites, from genebanks or other collections, or they are current varieties being improved through breeding.