In today's world, the pressure is on to improve agricultural production by developing food crops that can adapt to environmental changes and meet the growing food demands of a constantly increasing population. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, an international agreement with the overall goal of supporting global food security, allows governments, farmers, research institutes and agro-industries to work together by pooling their genetic resources and sharing the benefits from their use in modern plant breeding and biotechnology - thus protecting and enhancing our food crops while giving fair recognition and benefits to local farmers who have nurtured these crops through the millennia.

   With this Treaty, crops that produce our food - our breads, our curries, our tortillas, our couscous - are put into a common pool. The treaty facilitates access to those crops, makes them available free of charge for certain uses to researchers who agree to share any future commercial benefits from their use in modern plant breeding or biotechnology. This recognition and this benefit sharing are designed to ensure equity and encourage farmers to continue conserving and using the diversity in their fields. The Treaty is a tribute to them.

   Traditionally, as plants evolved naturally in their fields, farmers made seasonal selections of which seeds to save and plant the next year, based on what worked best in their local environments. In the early nineteenth century, scientific advancement brought the ability to crossbreed with more predictably. Today, modern biotechnology goes even further by providing plant breeders avenues to bring useful genes not only from other varieties but from other species into the mix. This means every crop variety has a potential use that extends far beyond a local farmer's field.

   Even foods that have been part of a culture for centuries often are indigenous to a region on the other side of the world. This global dispersal shows the generosity with which farmers and farming communities have always shared seeds and genetic materials with neighbors or through trade. As people ventured forth, looking for new lands, their seeds were part of their diasporas. As a result, we now live in a world in which not one country can be considered self sufficient in terms of being able to survive solely on crops indigenous within its borders. The Treaty facilitates the continued open exchange of food crops and their genetic materials.