The business of seed banks

Increasingly scientists are using genetic material from wild plants to make agricultural crops more resilient to climate change.

To find out how, Rebecca Kesby heads to the Millennium Seed Bank for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the south of England. There she meets Dr Chris Cockel, one of their project coordinators. We also hear from Asmund Asdal of the Global Seed Vault, which is located in a mountain on the archipelago of Svalbaard, between mainland Norway and the North Pole.

We speak to Dr Shivali Sharma, who is developing climate resistant varieties of pigeon pea, a staple crop in many parts of rural India. And Mohamed Lassad Ben Saleh, farmer in Tunisia, tells us how breeding crops that combine properties of indigenous wild varieties has improved the quality and yield of his crops.

This is a repeat of an episode first broadcast on 17 September 2021.

Producers: Clare Williamson and Benjie Guy

(Picture: a hand holding seeds. Credit: Getty Images)