Seeds of Hope is an exploration into the life and work of Nikolai Vavilov (1887 - 1943) - a plant geneticist whose life's goal it was to end world famine. He created the first seed bank at his institute in Leningrad, Russia out of samples that he collected from across the world. During World War II he fell out of favour with Stalin and starved to death in a Soviet prison.

Vavilov's story and the issues that his story raise remain underrepresented in the public domain but the issues of food security and biodiversity have never been more relevant - although obesity is a major problem in the developed world, malnutrition remains a threat for millions of others and climate change will make their food security even more fragile.