The United States Department of Agriculture is launching an initiative focused on seed collections in the country, to ultimately help researchers develop crops that are better equipped to withstand pests, diseases and the weather. U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins made the announcement during a news conference in central Iowa this week.
A USDA’s National Plant Germplasm System that works with plant breeders and researchers has been operating since 1974. Rollins says DNA sequencing will begin on that collection.
Dr. Scott Hutchins, the Chief Scientist for the USDA, says the agency’s seed collection is the largest in the world, but it hasn’t been developed in the way it should.
The USDA began collecting seeds in 1898 and opened a seed storage lab in Colorado nearly 70 years ago.
