Material included in the collection is mostly that which is considered to be in some way unique and or has the potential to be lost through either changes in the environment or changes to agricultural practices.  Thus material such as old endemic varieties (landraces) that could be replaced by modern varieties and progenitors of cultivated species that could be lost due to habitat deterioration would be included in the collection.

Seed Collection Missions
Acquiring material for the ICARDAs genebank has involved organizing and executing seed collection missions. This activity continues in areas of substantial genetic diversity and generally in relevant under-explored areas in the CWANA. Areas focused on by collections missions include those with unique climate, ecology, crop history and cultural practices that may endow the local germplasm with unique sets of traits that could be of potential benefit to plant breeding programs. In addition to collecting seed information about the site from which the seed is collected is also recorded. In total ICARDA personnel have either participated in or have arranged missions to 33 countries and collected over 25600 accessions.

These missions are planned and carried out in accordance with The International Code of Conduct for Plant Germplasm Collecting and Transfer. This document recognizes the host countries sovereign rights over the germplasm within the borders of their state.  Thus the country must officially grant permission to outside parties to collect germplasm within their borders. This permission is detailed within a permit to collect document that is signed by an appropriate authority within the country.
Permission to Collect Germplasm Agreement

Acquiring Material
Another way material is acquired is through requesting material from other ex-situ collections. Thus through collecting missions and strategic acquisitions from other gene banks, GRU has acquired and now conserves more than 128,500 accessions from over 125 counties.

How the Collection is Structured