People pollinating partnerships: harnessing collaborations between botanic gardens and agricultural research organizations on crop diversity

The world's botanic gardens are repositories of plant diversity but are seldom
considered to be major contributors to conservation and research of crops. Thus,
botanic gardens and agricultural research organizations have had somewhat limited
interactions historically. An unprecedented three-year collaboration between the
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society
of America, the American Public Gardens Association, and the World Food Prize
Foundation brought together experts from botanic gardens and the agricultural
research community, culminating in a Symposium in April 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Funded by a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture – National
Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA – NIFA), one of the major outcomes of this
collaboration was the development of a shared Road Map for conservation, use, and
public engagement around North America’s crop wild relatives and wild utilized
plants – species of interest to both communities. Key takeaways from this
collaboration are discussed.