29 January 2014, Rome - More than 7 million samples of the seeds and materials of our food crops are safeguarded in approximately 1,750 repositories around the world. Their conservation and use are critical to safeguarding food and nutrition security. In support of their conservation, FAO has published Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. As genebank materials are increasingly shared across national and continental boundaries, the universal use of these standards by the genebank curators need to be maintained. The world’s genebanks, however, differ greatly in the size of their collections and the human and financial resources at their disposal.