Plant Breeding for Climate Change: Opportunities for Adaptation and Mitigation

Genetic diversity is the foundation upon which plant breeding progress rests. Therefore, diverse genetic resources have always played a key role in the improvement of crops from wild progenitors to elite cultivars. Given the relatively narrow genetic base of most modern crops, access to a broad range of genebank resources is essential to help breeders adapt crops to the extreme conditions predicted under climate change, as well as to breed plants that can mitigate those conditions.