Crop wild relatives (CWR) have proven to be very valuable in agricultural breeding programs but remain a relatively under-utilized and under-protected resource. CWR have provided resistance to pests and diseases, abiotic stress tolerance, quality improvements and yield increases with the annual contribution of these traits to agriculture estimated at USD 115 billion globally and are considered to possess many valuable traits that have not yet been explored. The use of the genetic diversity found in CWR for breeding provides much-needed resilience to modern agricultural systems and has great potential to help sustainably increase agricultural production to feed a growing world population in the face of climate change and other stresses. A number of CWR taxa are at risk, however, necessitating coordinated local, national, regional and global efforts to preserve the genetic diversity of these plants through complementary in situ and ex situ conservation efforts. We discuss the absence of adequate institutional frameworks to incentivize CWR conservation services and propose payment for ecosystem services (PES) as an under-explored mechanism for financing these efforts. Such mechanisms could serve as a potentially powerful tool for enhancing the long-term protection of CWR.

The use of diverse genetic resources to breed improved crop varieties has been a key driver of agricultural productivity improvements in the past century. At the same time, the adoption of modern varieties has contributed to substantial loss of traditional varieties. In this analysis, we estimate the social value provided by several proposed crop diversity conservation programs to be carried out by the Czech genebank system. We use a double-bounded dichotomous choice model to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for conserving additional crop varieties in the genebank for ten years using data collected through an online contingent valuation survey administered to a sample representative of the general Czech population (1037 respondents) and a smaller sub-sample representative of the agricultural region of South Moravia (500 respondents). Mean WTP was found to be about $9 for both the Czech and S. Moravian sub-samples, corresponding to country-wide benefits of ~$68 million. These benefits increase by 6–7% for every ten varieties conserved, implying total welfare benefits of ~$84 million for a program conserving the maximum number of 35 additional crop varieties offered in the experiment. The study illustrates an empirical approach of potential value for policymakers responsible for determining funding levels for genetic resource conservation.

Genebanks serve as both providers of valuable traits for breeding programs and repositories of diverse crop genetic material representing society's agricultural heritage. In this study, we use a Becker‐DeGroot‐Marschak mechanism to elicit the willingness‐to‐pay of rice farmers in Côte d'Ivoire for small amounts of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) landraces held by the genebank of the Rice Biodiversity Center for Africa, and for seed of newly developed ARICA rice varieties bred using genebank materials. Using a field experiment, we additionally investigate how randomized exposure to and experimentation with small amounts of African rice landrace seed or seed of advanced rice varieties developed by AfricaRice affect how smallholder rice farmers value these novel genetic resources. Surprisingly, we find that farmers generally value having access to African rice landraces at approximately the same level as for advanced rice varieties (and far above market rates for improved seed), and that those farmers who grew landrace seed in the offseason were willing to pay more than those who did not. Our results demonstrate the additional value provided by the conservation of African rice landrace varieties (apart from their use in breeding) and highlight the importance of experimentation in the adoption process.

Plant breeding is key to growing the pea-processing sector. Interviews with processors revealed that attributes that enhance processing efficiency and the functional value of pea ingredients are highly valued. Concerns included undesirable traits in some high-protein pea varieties and consumer response to the use of gene editing in breeding.

The value of purchased seed is a product of its underlying genetic information. However, farmers purchasing seed face a classic information asymmetry problem, as varietal identity is not directly observable. In this article we investigate the effectiveness of two certification systems in addressing this issue in the context of Uganda: the formal certification system (predominantly private sector) and the FAO's quality declared system (certification for seed produced mainly by farmers' groups). Using a large, nationally representative panel dataset spanning thirteen growing seasons, and controlling for time‐invariant household and plot‐level unobservables, we find that cultivating purchased quality declared improved seed results in measurable yield increases relative to saved seed. Surprisingly, however, certified improved seed is shown to provide no yield benefits over seed saved from previous seasons, despite its higher cost. Our findings suggest that input heterogeneity and information asymmetry in seed markets may be key constraints to the successful diffusion of improved maize varieties in Uganda, and that the formal seed certification system may not have provided an adequate signal of seed quality to farmers during the time period covered by the panel.