Fusing Technology and Heritage: Sustaining Seeds in the Vaults

If you go to the university library in any major city, you'll find tomes that are hundreds of years old. If you visit the libraries of countries with a longer bookish past than mine, you will find illuminated manuscripts and more, all treasures from a past that we can no longer imagine in its daily detail. Cultures have managed to save books that they find valuable, books that tell us about the myths, teachings, and histories of people from many generations gone by.

What about the history of our food? Many of the seeds we use today are relative newcomers to the scene. While their ancestors may have been successful for hundreds of years, these seeds are newer hybrids or genetically-engineered modern marvels. They're suited to the markets now, and they're designed for hardiness, superior growth, and their ability to transported and preserved over long distances.

But who is saving the grandmothers of the seed world, those heritage varieties that have adapted to local conditions over generations? Many have died out: foods have been lost because no one found value in preserving them. Yet heritage seeds are ideally suited for their particular micro-environments. They have staying power, disease resistance, storage capability and flavors that are outstanding, but they may not have all of these at once. Those plants that don't conform to the large market economy have become the realm of the backyard gardener or the heritage seed fancier, and often they are not widely available. Small seed companies and seep swappers around the nations of the world have saved many heritage seeds from extinction.

However, there is also a Noah's Ark of seeds. This Norwegian seed vault has been designed to save the genetic material of generations. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is 130 meters inside a mountain. Countries can deposit and withdraw seeds from the vault without charge, and the vault has the capacity for 4.5 million seeds. The vault was officially opened just over two years ago, in February of 2008. Also known as the Doomsday Vault, it is designed to withstand catastrophes and save seeds for the world, stored in the dark, cold depths of a mountain on a remote Norwegian island. Norway funds the operation of the vault and is helping nations move seed samples to the vault. Currently there are approximately half a million samples inside.

Is a static seed vault going to be useful to future generations? One of the beautiful things about open-pollinated seeds is that they adapt to their micro-environments. A static vault of seeds won't keep this dynamism going. However, if the worst happens and a catastrophe sweeps the earth, it is somewhat comforting to know that some of the world's food-growing material has been saved.

Is a seed vault an answer to global change and catastrophe?