While reference genomes provide a starting point, or platform for discovery in a specific species, it only captures a brief moment in the history of that species’ diversity and lacks the information content that would enable activities such as molecular breeding and phylogenetic analyses. Roorkiwal et al. (2013, this issue) describe the development of an Illumina BeadXpress SNP genotyping platform for two important crops in the developing world, pigeon pea and chickpea (Roorkiwal et al., 2013). Both pigeon pea and chickpea have lagged behind other crops in their genetic improvement due to a lack of genome and breeding resources that would enable such applications as marker assisted selection (MAS) and phylogenetic screens to identify genetic novelty in wild species. The development of an Illumina BeadXpress SNP genotyping platform provides the opportunity to assess larger populations of plants with an adequate density of markers, which is ideal for breeding applications such as MAS and scans of diversity for disease and abiotic traits.