The world's botanic gardens are repositories of plant diversity but are seldom considered to be major contributors to conservation and research of crops.Thus, botanic gardens and agricultural research organizations have had somewhat limited interactions historically.An unprecedented three-year collaboration between the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, the American Public Gardens Association, and the World Food Prize Foundation brought together experts from botanic gardens and the agricultural research community, culminating in a Symposium in April 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa.