Seed Banks Key to Future Food Supplies

Naturally, with a growing world population there will be an increased demand for food.  According to this article, the way to increase food production is to use currently unused plants to feed people.  It is estimated that food availability must double in the next twenty-five years.  Plants that contain genes that will withstand climate change, drought, soil degradation, and land shortages can help to meet the future food demand.  Gene banks contain various genetic materials from ancestral and wild plants that provide the basis for the development of future crops.  However, there is not yet enough information about the genes in most plants.  In order to meet the increasing food demand through the use of seed banks, there must be a massive genetic sequencing effort on seed bank holdings, a phenotyping initiative on seed bank holdings as well as the progeny generated from crossing wild materials, and internationally accessible informatics infrastructure to coordinate seed bank data.


Altering the genes of the organisms that population consume may seem like a good solution; however, any potential effects on the environment should be considered as well.  Furthermore, other more sustainable methods of food production should be explored and implement before altering plants' genes on an international level.
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