Old Wheat is Good Wheat

TL;DR:

Arthur Watkins was an English botanist who did a very good thing. In the 1920s to help rebuild the agricultural infrastructure in continental Europe after the first World War he began to aggregate a comprehensive collection of wheat landraces from 32 diverse regions.

This is and was the A.E. Watkins Collection.

As wheat is a primary global food source and its yields have plateaued,there's now a critical need for new genetic variation. By analyzing the Collection and the DNA of its contents, researchers discovered a wealth of untapped genetic diversity, including novel alleles and chromosomal rearrangements which provide promising avenues for developing improved wheat varieties to address global food security challenges.

More after the paywall.