Genebanks are places where crop varieties are stored, catalogued, and made available for redistribution so that their genetic diversity is not lost. Besides conserving cultivated crop diversity, some genebanks also conserve the wild relatives of crops, which can contain useful traits not present in the domesticated genepool, and can undertake other activities to make genetic diversity more usable in breeding, such as characterization and evaluation efforts and pre-breeding. We present here the results of a stated preference survey that elicits the preferences of the general Czech public for the conservation of additional wheat and wild wheat varieties, characterization and evaluation activities, and pre-breeding efforts. Czech citizens were asked whether they would be willing to make a one-time voluntary payment to finance specific, 10-year conservation programmes at the Czech genebank. Using a sequence of single-bounded dichotomous choice questions, we estimate a random effects probit model to analyze preferences for such conservation programmes. We find that Czech respondents had a strong preference for characterization and evaluation, and while they do not value pre-breeding, they are willing to pay for the conservation of additional wild wheat accessions (though not for cultivated wheat varieties). In aggregate, the estimated benefits are substantial compared to the current costs of conservation. The stated preference approach of this paper permits the estimation of the social value of crop diversity conservation and associated investments in research, including non-market values. Our results provide information of potential use for policymakers in relation to setting priorities for the funding of agricultural research.

中文翻译：

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“仓库”还是研究中心？在捷克基因库中分析公众对保护、预育和特征鉴定活动的偏好

基因库是储存、编目和重新分配作物品种的地方，这样它们的遗传多样性就不会丢失。除了保护栽培作物多样性外，一些基因库还保护作物的野生近缘种，这些亲缘种可能包含驯化基因库中不存在的有用性状，并且可以开展其他活动，使遗传多样性在育种中更有用，例如表征和评估工作以及预-配种。我们在此展示了一项陈述偏好调查的结果，该调查引发了捷克公众对保护其他小麦和野生小麦品种、特征描述和评估活动以及育种前工作的偏好。捷克公民被问及他们是否愿意一次性自愿付款以资助特定的、捷克基因库的 10 年保护计划。使用一系列单界二分选择问题，我们估计了一个随机效应概率模型来分析对此类保护计划的偏好。我们发现捷克受访者对特征描述和评估有强烈偏好，虽然他们不重视预育种，但他们愿意为额外野生小麦品种的保护（尽管不是栽培小麦品种）支付费用。总的来说，与当前的保护成本相比，估计的收益是可观的。本文陈述的偏好方法允许估计作物多样性保护和相关研究投资的社会价值，包括非市场价值。