“The Super Seeders” by Miles Hillman

The Super Seeders

Miles Hillmann
Tellwell Talent (2026)
ISBN: 978-1834188355
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (05/2026)

Why is it so important to save seeds? What is the point of traveling to other countries to gather seeds and plant roots? What is done with all of these seeds, and how do countries use them? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in the book The Super Seeders: How Plant Scientists Are Racing to Protect Global Food Security Amid Climate Change and Disease by Miles Hillmann. Hillmann traces the history of super seeders back to the very first person who had the foresight to start saving and preserving seeds. This alone is what eventually turned into a global program that would help fight hunger and combat agricultural problems such as plant disease and changing climate.

This book will introduce readers to the very first Super Seeder: A Russian visionary named Nikolay Vavilov. Vavilov understood the importance of saving seeds in order to help families struggling with hunger, so he began the work of what would one day come to be called “seed conservation.” Even after he died, others took up his work and continued his efforts.

No doubt, the work that all of the so-called “Super Seeders” has done is immensely important. And, it has prevented hunger. As the author writes on page 10, when talking about Jack Harlan, who Vavilov inspired to become a Super Seeder:

One of his most famous finds came in 1948 when Jack and his Turkish colleague, Osman Tosun, picked wheat grains from a field in eastern Turkey. The seeds were stored under the identifier PI 178383. Fifteen years later, as American farmers battled a devastating stripe rust epidemic, scientists tested thousands of stored seeds. PI 178383 stood out because it was not only immune to stripe rust but to several other wheat diseases. Its genes were bred into new wheat varieties that saved harvests across the northwestern United States.

The best part about the work these Super Seeders are doing is that they have also created a “back-up” system of the seeds they are conserving. This was created in case of emergency, for situations where seeds elsewhere are being lost. The duplicated seeds that are saved are meant to replenish lost supplies of seeds anywhere in the world, ensuring that hunger will not be a threat in the event that an original supply of seeds that were saved is lost due to unforeseen circumstances.

There is so much interesting information about the work done by Super Seeders in this book, giving readers plenty of things to learn about. For example, one part of the book shares the four types of methods in which seeds are stored, and there is also information about the Green Revolution, the creation of genetically modified seeds, and the era of plant genetics, which is where we are now. This particular wave encompasses practices such as bioinformatics, crop phenotyping, and genetic editing—which will enable this new generation of seeds to withstand the ongoing climate crisis, which is affecting farming, as well as maintaining nutritional value in the foods these seeds are meant for.

Readers of this book will also learn about how the debut of the Human Genome Project inspired a new kind of research and scientific testing in plants and seeds, as well as how a process called “marker-assisted selection” has helped greatly improve the entire field of seed conservation.

The Super Seeders by Miles Hillmann is an informative and educational book about the field of seed conservation and how it affects the crops that grow our food. From genetic modification to the use of AI, this book shares how seed conservation has contributed to feeding the world and maintaining productive crops. It provides the reader with the knowledge of the many different levels of seed conservation, as well as the changes and controversies it has faced, and will continue to face. This is a book that everyone should read, not only because it will educate them in the realities of what farmers go through in growing the food that we eat, but also in how science protects and improves farming on a global scale.