We desperately need to maintain a vast variety of genetic diversity in our crops. With Climate change looming over the world, it threatens countless varieties of plant foods. New stressors will be introduced into areas that have remained relatively static for a long time. Diversity is an absolute necessity for the sustainability of the world food chain. We need to protect it at all costs. I definitely agree with this article. But furthermore, we need to protect the natural occurring gene combinations that exist in many crops in another way. With the rise of biotechnology and patentable genes, genetically modified pollen can possible infiltrate a rare species of crops and strangle out their needed variations, all the while, making the cross pollinated crops potentially some foreign corporation's property. This could destroy the continued cultivation of those crops (not to mention what makes them so unique) and eventually lead to their extinction.

In addition to maintaining crop diversity, it's also important to maintain, for the same reasons, the genetic diversity of livestock.  As conventional agriculture has wiped out hundreds of varieties of plant species, it has also, through the consolidation of a very few specialized breeds, greatly diminished the varieties of livestock that are able to be obtained and raised throughout the world.

As there are heirloom plant seeds, there are heritage breeds of livestock. 

This organization works to ensure livestock diversity for future generations.  It also contains lists of threatened/endangered breeds of many animals.

http://albc-usa.org/about.html

This is why it is important to support seed companies that sell and promote ancient strains of veggies/flowers/herbs/fruit.

Seeds of Change and Seed Savers Exchange are two great places to start. The average gardener can order rare varieties and help ensure  that these strains do not die out. Even if you can't garden yourself, you can join these non-profits, support them, send their catalogs to friends/relatives who do have gardens, or give memberships as gifts.

What do you know about the seed vault that has been put together by Bill Gates, Monsanto and others?

Glad you like my potato picture from Weiser Farms.  Alex Weiser was one of the farmers invited to display his produce at Slow Food Nation.  This picture was cripped and used by UNESCO for the year of the potato.  Weiser Farms is a regular at the famous Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market and also can be found at the Sunday Farmers Market in Long Beach.  These potatoes can be found at many of the restaurants in the LA area that are helping to promote sustainable foods.Curt Gibbswww.ExperienceLA.com

I liked your work very much, Curt. Thanks for putting it up with a generous CC license.

Community gardens and greenhouses are desperately needed.  This will lessen the hardship to come and allow each individual without a job to feel that they are a respectable, self-sufficient  person.  Changes in weather will have less affect on greenhouses.  Greenhouses can be used year-round.

Get people off the stamps and make them work for their food.  If (when) I can't afford food, I want to be able to walk a mile in either direction and volunteer at a community garden in order to feed the family.

I agree with you, Gavin.  In my community, an urban garden was recently developed.  They are including classes on canning and seed growing.  Anyone can volunteer, which a great way to learn.  They are hoping that people will begin to develop their own backyard gardens.  I believe when the time comes, this will take off, especially with people losing jobs.  This is a great way to save money on food.    From Rosine

The seed-vault page is here; http://www.croptrust.org/main/arctic.php?itemid=211
The concept is to preserve as much diversity as possible in seed format.  Seeds in cold storage are fairly stable, though there are exceptions.  Other crops can't be propagated this way.  Cornell operates an enormous apple repository (orchard) because apples don't breed true.  Saving the wild birth places of crops can help too.  Wild relatives with no crop value can be sources of genetic resistance to diseases or cultural tolerances that widen crop availability.

I hope that Obama and his team look into the important subject of making our food systems more sustainable.

Support the Vavilov Institute in St Petersburg Russia. Started by N Vavilov in the 1930s, he traveled the world and gathered an astounding 450,000 seed types! 
The Vavilov Foundation is raising funds for new refrigerators and storage devices to save these seeds from extinction. There are thousands of kinds of potatoes and many plants that are now extinct in the wild.  

I am like minded. I support the Natural Solutions Foundation.  This organization is leading the fight to remove GMO's from our food supply.  This non profit organization meets with world leaders and educates them about dangers of GMO seeds. No one else is doing this work and they need are help.  Monsanto is subsidising farmers, not only in the US. but all over the world with these modified seeds.  From my research, this will reverse sustainable farming, into a corporate controlled food supply.  NSF is asking people to vote - here on Change.org, to bring this issue up to President Elect Obama. 
naturalsolutionsfoundation.org

Cooking a meal based on beef/red meat takes 20 times as much land as fixing a meal based on grains, legumes and vegetables.when the world becomes vegetarian, like I've been with no problem for 32 years, then we'll have no trouble preserving land, peace, and having more grains an other foods preserved and remaining on the market.  we'll have a much healthier society and more peace. Remember the torture and killing that animals must go through before you eat their meat.  They have nerves unlike plants.  We are what we eat, and those that eat food from creatures that have been tortured and killed will end up being like Hamas, Al Qaeda, GW, Nazi's, and the Taliban.Read Will Tuttle's book "the World Peace Diet"   and realize how humans attempts to stop wars have failed since the first  farms in Iraq started raising animals for food around 12,000 years ago.  When our grains are eaten by humans rather than animals on farms, when our land is used to grow plants and forests that absorb co2, and keep the  plants from going extinct, and when we can be vegetarian, then , and only then, will there be world peace.