New Film Showcases ICARDA's Genebanks' role in Global Food Security

"We are passing down this heritage from generation to generation," says Dr. Zakaria Kehel about the expansive and invaluable seed collection preserved in ICARDA's genebanks in Morocco and Lebanon. 

He is speaking to Melanie Bencosme, a documentary filmmaker who just released a 6-minute video on ICARDA's breeding work and seed vaults with Freethink – a US-based company documenting ideas that can change the world's future.  

In "Preventing the 2035 food catastrophe," Dr. Kehel is featured alongside Dr. Filippo Bassi, ICARDA's Durum Wheat Breeder, and Dr. Mariana Yazbek, the manager of ICARDA's genebank in Lebanon.

The film reveals ICARDA's seedbanks and scientists' critical roles in preserving future global food security. Scientists thrive not just to safeguard those seeds and their rich genetic pool but to unlock their resilience and climate-smart potential to survive under almost any conditions. 

Because farming is progressively more challenging as droughts, floods, and elevated temperatures become increasingly frequent, ICARDA's climate-smart seeds' sturdiness will play a key role in supporting food producers and consumers today and tomorrow. 

With breathtaking images from Morocco and Lebanon, the film captures what may be the essential facet of our work: the people behind the science.