Crowdsourcing genebank training needs

USDA-ARS and Colorado State University are organizing a workshop:

  • To identify the pedagogical options, logistics, and curriculum topics for a U.S. plant genetic resource management training effort, with major emphasis on a distance-learning course.
  • To design a strategy to develop, deliver, and sustain a plant genetic resource management training program.

They’re asking me for an “international perspective” on what genebank managers should be knowledgeable about, so I’m asking you. But don’t send me a laundry list (there are plenty of curriculums out there), or your favourite topic. What I’d like to know is what ONE topic you think has been neglected in teaching crop diversity conservation in the past, and is unlikely to be revived without a major effort.

All contributions will be gratefully acknowledged in my presentation, needless to say (and I’ll post evidence to that effect in due course).

Thanks!

20 Replies to “Crowdsourcing genebank training needs”

  1. 1. linking crop diversity management and climate change
    2. conservation of recalcitrant species
    3. incentives: commercialization of adaptive local varieties

  2. – A good control of what is in their ex-situ collection and the status of each accession
    – Good knowledge of international agreements

  3. Seed banks vs. gene banks banks: What’s the unit of conservation and what are the biologically and economically justifiable thresholds for keeping genetically similar accessions?

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