Banking on seed technology

It is crucial to find a way to meld the macro-level diplomacy of the Conference of the Parties summit with the practical, micro-level solutions needed to protect agricultural communities and their crops from the effects of climate change, writes Peter Guest in his article for the Wall Street Journal. Without sufficient focus on these micro-level issues, there is a danger that real crops in real fields don't get adapted, believes Mr. Fowler, the architect of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. "Farmers face new and extreme climatic conditions, and must adapt their practices and crops to allow for sudden, temporary shifts in weather patterns," continues Peter Guest.