Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway: With plant species disappearing at an alarming rate, scientists and governments are creating a global network of plant banks to store seeds and sprouts – precious genetic resources that may be needed for man to adapt the world’s food supply to climate change.

This week, the flagship of that effort, the Global Seed Vault, received its first seeds here – millions of them. Bored into the middle of a snow-topped Arctic mountain, the seed vault has as its goal the storing of every kind of seed from every collection on the planet. While the original seeds will remain in ordinary seed banks, the seed vault’s stacked gray boxes will form a backup in case natural disaster or human error erase the seeds from the outside world.

Read the full article from the February 28, 2008 International Herald Tribune here.

See inside the vault here.

Don’t forget we are doing our little part for biodiversity by capturing your opinions about vegetable varieties. Our library of more than 5,000 variety descriptions and your opinions on some of them raises awareness of the value of seed diversity to our culture and food systems. Check out Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners website.

Trackback this Post | Feed on comments to this Post