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Many breeds of livestock and innumerable varieties of crops which have arisen in the course of man's agricultural history are now in grave danger of being supplanted by the comparatively fewer highly-bred animals and plants of modern agriculture. A priceless and irreplaceable reservoir of genetic raw material is threatened. Peter Collins looks at efforts now underway to preserve some of the rapidly vanishing breeds of livestock. Next week Eleanor Lawrence reviews international efforts to conserve crop genetic resources.
