Collection development is increasingly becoming a problem for museums worldwide. Often the administration does not see the need to acquire more objects or storage is already full so there is no room for more object even if a rationale could be made for their acquisition. When an institution has the mandate to collect a country’s history the challenges become even greater. The Canada Agriculture Museum’s collecting mandate is meant to represent all aspects of this country’s agricultural story. That encompasses everything from an iron-faced wood 17th century plough pulled by a brace of oxen to a 40 foot long late 20th century robotic machine that allows four cows to be milked simultaneously when they feel the need. It is to include everything from the rake used on PEI to collect dulse for use as fertilizer to the self-propelled machine for harvesting grapes used in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. If it were ever realistic to expect that such a mandate could be fulfilled, in today’s climate of limited financial and personnel resources it clearly is no longer possible. We also need to ask whether we must be the sole custodian for everything of significance or should a different model be considered? The Canadian Museum of Nature has for many years worked within a collaborative framework that often sees them coordinating the preservation of natural history specimens but the actual specimens going into partner public institutions elsewhere in Canada. This presentation will examine why a network of partner agriculture museums may be the sole reasonable road forward, how one could be formed, the challenges involved and what it might look like.