For many of us in developed countries, such as the United States, food security is a non-issue. Grocery stores, restaurants, and even local farms are common sights, and often easily accessible. Even during a global crisis, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, I heard more people express concern over the dwindling supply of toilet paper than I did food. As is often the case with something as ubiquitous as food, we tend to assume things will remain constant, not stopping to think about how the sausage is made, so to speak. Specialized vaults known as seed banks are our way of safeguarding even the most basic crop seeds – such as rice, beans, and wheat – against factors such as war, disease, and climate change.
Seed banks are secure facilities in which an extensive variety of seeds are carefully stored. This is not only done to safeguard them from these external threats, but also provides the opportunity to research these crops and educate farmers to help prevent diseases which may threaten crop security. Many smaller seed banks operate under less stringent security measures, depending on factors like funding, location, and the amount of time samples are expected to be stored. More prolific seed banks, on the other hand, often include safeguards ranging from the natural permafrost found in Svalbard’s vaults, to the flood, bomb, and radiation proof Millennium Seed Bank in Sussex, England.
These seed banks, run both for public and private interests, are located all around the world. In fact, the world’s largest seed bank is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The USDA reports that the facility, which boasts a maximum capacity of 1.5 million samples, currently stores over 500,000 unique samples of genetic material. The Global Crop Diversity Trust, a non profit established by the United Nations in 2004, financially supports 185 facilities in 117 countries, including 22 locations in the United States. Perhaps the most well known seed bank is located in Svalbard, a region situated between Norway and the North Pole. The facility, known as a sort of Noah’s Ark of seeds and genetic material, functions similarly to a safe deposit box: the bank is owned by the government of Norway and the depositors own the genetic material inside. Although these depositors are free to withdraw their samples at any time, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) remains the only organization to withdraw genetic samples, after the Syrian civil war forced their seed bank in Aleppo to shut down.
Despite the ICARDA seed bank not being a direct target of the war, it served as a reminder that war is a very real danger to the future of food security. Food is, of course, one of the most basic requirements for our survival as a species. When something so critical becomes scarce, conflict is sure to arise, and often in a way which benefits relatively few of us. Maintaining extensive, well protected samples of our most important crops is important, not only from an agricultural perspective, but for the purpose of maintaining our country’s ability to be self-reliant.
