This book presents around 80 briefly described cases which illuminate the accumulated experience in utilizing and managing crop genetic diversity in farmers' fields both in the South and the North. These experiences illustrate the conflict which has been thought to exist between crop conservation and development, and contribute to the understanding of the opportunities that are offered by new approaches and activities in this field. There are frequent similarities between problems in the South and the North, and the book presents the experiences and perspectives of farmers, genebanks, plant breeders, seed programs and NGOs involved in crop development and conservation. The authors analyze the experiences in the context of new approaches in local and global Plant Genetic Resource (PGR) management being tried by both the formal and informal sector.The last part of the book suggests guidelines for future development in PGR management. It discusses the implications of integrated and adaptive management approaches in PGR management, and the need to rethink the institutional organization required to bring about changes which can help farmers and professionals in PGR management to resist the pressures of a range of global forces.This book presents a very diverse and rich array of experiences and in effect proposes a synthesis of what have been taken to be conflicting views of conservation and development.