Discover the science, systems, and people working to safeguard the future of food — and why the world is only just beginning to pay attention.
The Super-Seeders reveals the architecture of a quiet global movement — a living system of seed banks, scientists, plant breeders, and farmers working across borders to secure the future of food.
It’s a story few have heard, yet it touches every one of us. From the wheat in our bread to the rice in our bowls, the resilience of our crops — and the survival of the people who grow them — depends on systems that remain largely invisible.
At the centre of this work are Seven Pillars — breakthroughs in science, infrastructure, and international collaboration that support the conservation, improvement, and sharing of plant genetic diversity.
But this isn’t just a story about seeds. It’s about people: Ethiopian farmers reviving ancient grains, researchers decoding genomes in high-tech labs, and global institutions quietly cooperating to move genetics from vaults to fields.
This book — and the project around it — exists to make these systems visible. To honour the quiet heroism behind them. To tell the story of the science that might just feed the future.
The plant genetics revolution isn’t held up by a single discovery — it stands on seven interconnected breakthroughs.
These are the Seven Pillars: the foundations of a global system that protects crop diversity, accelerates innovation, and delivers real-world impact for farmers across the Global South and beyond.
Each pillar plays a unique role — from preserving ancient seeds, to sharing genomes between nations, to ensuring that smallholder farmers can actually access the crops they need.
They don’t exist in isolation. Together, they form a living framework — the quiet architecture behind one of the most ambitious and necessary revolutions of our time.
If we want to feed the future, we can’t just talk about science — we have to talk about systems. Behind every crop that feeds
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Miles Hillmann has spent a lifetime in business; from agriculture to pollution control and international innovation and export. The Super-Seeders is the result of a personal journey to understand the systems and people working to protect the future of food.
“This isn’t about breakthroughs. It’s about systems — and the quiet revolution that might just feed the future.”
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