Food security: the gene banks future-proofing Australian agriculture | The future of farming

At the start of our Future of farming series on sustainable agribusiness we show how two gene banks, living libraries of all the seeds and grains in Australia, are designed to safeguard the species

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In February 2018 the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the remote Norwegian Arctic will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Among the gifts it will receive are two collections of precious seeds and grains from the Australian Pastures Genebank and the Australian Grains Genebank, to be deposited into the vault as an insurance policy for an uncertain future.

Between them, the Australian Pastures Genebank and the Australian Grains Genebank are a record of Australia's agricultural past, a resource for its present, and an insurance policy for its future.