Speaking at the BIO 2007 International Convention, the firm's Stephen Smith said that a genetic crop bank is crucial for maintaining global food security.

"Biotechnology will help us develop solutions to challenges that we have yet to imagine, but the potential will be limited without access to historic genetic resources," said Smith, a DuPont scientist and expert on plant genetic diversity.

The firm has already pledged $1m to the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an international fund charged with securing long-term funding for the support of genebanks and crop genetic diversity collections throughout the world.

"As researchers in the public and private sector gain a better understanding of the genetic language of crops, we will be better suited to use the latest biotech tools, such as genomics and molecular markers, to develop solutions to the challenges of future generations," said Smith.

"If plant genetic resources are not properly conserved, it will be like learning how to read and then going to the library to find no books on the shelves."

The Global Crop Diversity Trust, which aims to conserve crop diversity, was founded in 2001 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR).

According to the group, funding for crop diversity conservation tends to be unreliable, and diversity is being lost. The international organization claims to be the only body working worldwide to solve the problem.

The trust said it is raising a $260m endowment to maintain the world's most critical germplasm for agricultural crops, as well as increasing crucial collection capacity in developing countries.

Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged its support for the mission with a $30m grant, and the government of Norway raised its donation to $15m.

Funding from the Global Crop Diversity Trust will go towards a 'doomsday vault' built into the Norwegian Arctic permafrost. It will have the capacity to store three million seed samples that represent a vast range of genetic variety from the world's key crops. The complex is intended to safeguard the global food supply in the event of disaster.

"The conservation and availability of crop diversity is absolutely critical to assuring an abundant and affordable food supply for people everywhere. If we continue to neglect crop genetic diversity, it will be lost forever," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the trust.