The potato introduction project was begun in 1947 by breeders to maintain valuable South American and other potato germplasm; a site was established in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1950. The first of four regional plant introduction stations was established in Ames, Iowa, in 1948. Three more stations followed at Experiment, Georgia (now Griffin, Georgia); Pullman, Washington; and Geneva, New York. In 1958 the National Seed Storage Laboratory was opened at Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Following congressional passage of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, action was taken to establish a cooperative enterprise that was coordinated through the newly designated Plant Introduction Section of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). This included participation by ARS, the state agricultural experiment stations, the Cooperative State Research Service, and where appropriate, the Forest Service, the Soil Conservation Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. This combined effort involved close collaboration between those responsible for the acquisition and conservation of germplasm and federal, state, and private users. It was organized with a national office responsible for collecting and introducing germplasm, as well as through a series of regional and interregional stations responsible for the increase, maintenance, evaluation, documentation, and distribution of germplasm. Technical and administrative committees from the federal and state systems coordinated these activities.

The NPGS has been described as a diffuse network of federal, state, and private institutions, agencies, and research stations (Council for Agriculture and Technology, 1984; General Accounting Office, 1981a,b; National Research Council, 1972; Office of Technology Assessment, 1987). Some reports have criticized its apparent inability to manage well all of the germplasm held by its cooperators. However, the system is still relatively young and is evolving to meet the rapid changes in technology and in the economic, legal, and political requirements of U.S. and world agriculture.

The present NPGS emerged 2 years after a 1972 restructuring of the ARS. The change underscored the recognition of the importance of genetic resources management and the need for a coordinated, national effort. The system has been an umbrella for an extensive array of germplasm management activities throughout the country.

U.S. scientists, in assembling a wide range of crop germplasm, presaged the recognition by other nations of the threat of loss of genetic diversity in primitive cultivars and landraces. Many NPGS stocks no

Front Matter (R1-R16)

Executive Summary (1-20)

1 Managing Crop Genetic Resources (21-42)

2 Elements of the National Plant Germplasm System (43-86)

3 Administration of the National System (87-106)

4 Prescription for Effectiveness (107-144)

References (145-148)

Glossary (149-153)

Abbreviations (154-155)

Authors (156-160)

Index (161-173)