In the early 20th century, the Russian geneticist Nikolaj Vavilov travelled halfway round the world and studied methods to produce new varieties of plants which would yield more and be adapted to the different climates in the Soviet Union. In a veritable on-the-road story which goes back over some of the stages of Vavilov’s journey, Marco Boscolo and Elisabetta Tola introduce us to the ‘guardians’ of agricultural biodiversity who have learned his lesson: researchers, farmers and new artisans who are innovating farming by recovering local varieties and seeds that risk disappearing, replaced by industrial products that are the same all over the world but not very adapted to meeting the effects of climate change. There is no trace of nostalgia in this journey, but a new idea of innovation fuelled by a global network – Senegal, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, France, United States and Italy – which is offering models of production and different supply chains to guarantee, following in Vavilov’s footsteps, that despite the climate upheavals that we will have to face, nobody must suffer hunger.