Is a pandemic the time to think about genebanks?

Perhaps you think that the middle of a global pandemic is not an appropriate time to be discussing seed banks.

Think again.

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is primarily a health crisis, of course – but it is affecting all parts of society and the economy, a major result being that people are especially worried about where their next meal will come from. With agricultural and food systems reeling globally, the focus of decision-makers is, at the moment, mainly on the business end of the food chain: on keeping global trade moving, supermarkets stocked and people fed. It is not the virus causing large numbers of people to flee Delhi and other large cities in the developing world, but the fear of hunger.