The Viking in the Wheat Field: A Scientist's Struggle to Preserve the World's Harvest

For thirty years, Danish plant scientist Bent Skovmand served as adviser to dozens of countries and hunted for seeds with genes to resist disease and such environmental stresses as drought, flooding, and global warming. In an era when multinational corporations often jealously guarded patents on plant breeding, Skovmand fought to keep his seed bank a free, open scientific exchange for breeders and farmers everywhere.

By telling the story of Skovmand and his colleagues, The Viking in the Wheat Field sheds welcome light on an agricultural sector--plant genetic resources--on which our food supply is crucially dependent.