Since its creation in 1981, the National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources (CRF), part of the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), conserves ex situ, in addition to the basic collection, active collections of cereals, legumes and industrial crops, and makes them available to users, e.g. for use in research or breeding programmes, and also to farmers for direct use. The objective is to promote the direct use of PGRFA in the form in which they are conserved, thereby enabling their dynamic conservation. The CRF, in response to requests from users, distributes seeds provided there is enough quantity. It further considers the legal status of the requested material, in accordance with the ITPGRFA, Nagoya Protocol and international conventions on the protection of intellectual property. To fulfil requests from farmers, a simplified Material Transfer Agreement is signed, in which the conditions for use are clearly stated: the seed or planting material obtained under this agreement is to be used only for its cultivation and can only be transferred for this same purpose. The maintenance of biodiversity in the genebanks, especially as far as local varieties are concerned, is of great interest for some groups of farmers.