Located at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) near the town of Turrialba, the facility houses some 6,200 seed samples from 125 species of edible plants, including squash, chilli, and tomato. These seeds can be kept for up to 40 years, in temperatures as low as -20C, for research purposes, genetic engineering of plants, or to replace species that die out. According to plant geneticist William Solano, the seed bank is a resource that can be used now or in the future. It holds seeds from 57 countries, with around 90 per cent of them coming from the Central American region. These seeds are collected from markets and farms or grown wild. The CATIE stockpile, which includes the second-largest collection of squash family seeds worldwide, is stacked on shelves in hundreds of small, silver envelopes. “In response to climate change, we have here important materials for food security that are locally adapted to a variety of climate conditions, ranging from humi...