Stewards of Our Agricultural Future.

Humanity’s survival depends on crops--the thin green line standing between us and calamity. To meet ever increasing human needs crops must become increasingly more productive, mainly through genetic gains which exploit diverse plant genetic resources (PGR), the raw materials for crop breeding. Through millennia, PGR have been conserved by, inter alia, curators, breeders, researchers, farmers, gardeners, and land managers. These stewards of genetic treasures have been nearly as diverse as the PGR that they conserve. But their invaluable roles in underpinning global agriculture often have been underappreciated. Furthermore, the challenges and complexity of successful PGR stewardship have been inadequately recognized. Therefore, this presentation pays tribute to these stewards’ past and present contributions. It examines their and their institutions’ characteristic attributes; pervasive influence on crop agriculture; and how organizational structures, cultural milieus, conceptual models, and technological developments might have fostered effective stewardship. The multiple phase/component and extended timeframe aspects of PGR stewardship are illustrated. Past and present stewardship successes and failures are reviewed for lessons instructive for meeting the future challenges of rapid rates of environmental, cultural, and technological change.