Backup for survival

by Robert B. Fishman

Seed banks store genetic diversity for human nutrition

Around 1.700 gene and seed banks around the world secure plants and seeds for human nutrition. The "seed safe" serves as a backup Svalbard Seed Vault on Svalbard. Seeds from 18 different plant species are stored there at minus 5.000 degrees, including more than 170.000 samples of rice varieties. 

In 2008 the Norwegian government had a box of rice grains from the Philippines stored in the tunnel of a former mine on Svalbard. This began the creation of a reserve to feed mankind. Since the climate crisis has changed the conditions for agriculture ever faster and biodiversity is rapidly dwindling, the treasure trove of genetic diversity in the Svalbard Seed Vault has become more and more important for mankind. 

Agriculture backup

"We only use a very small part of the edible plant varieties for our diet," says Luis Salazar, spokesman for the Crop Trust in Bonn. For example, 120 years ago, farmers in the USA were still growing 578 different types of beans. Today there are only 32. 

Biodiversity is dwindling

With the industrialization of agriculture, more and more varieties are disappearing from the fields and from the market worldwide. The result: our diet depends on fewer and fewer types of plants and is therefore more susceptible to failure: monocultures leach out the soil compacted by heavy machinery and pests that feed on individual crops spread faster. The farmers apply more poisons and fertilizers. Agent residues pollute the soil and water. The biodiversity continues to decline. The death of insects is only one consequence of many. A vicious circle.

Wild varieties ensure the survival of the useful plants

In order to preserve varieties and crop species and to find new ones, the Crop Trust coordinates the "Crop Wild Relative Project“- a breeding and research program on food security. Breeders and scientists cross wild varieties with common crops in order to develop resilient new varieties that can withstand the consequences of the climate crisis: heat, cold, drought and other extreme weather. 

The plan is long-term. The development of a new plant variety alone takes about ten years. In addition, there are months or years for approval procedures, marketing and dissemination.

 "We are expanding biodiversity and helping to make it accessible to farmers," promises Luis Salazar from the Crop Trust.

Contribution to the survival of small farmers

Smallholders in the global south, in particular, can often only afford poor and low-yielding soils and usually do not have the money to buy the patented seeds of the agricultural corporations. New breeds and old unpatented varieties can save livelihoods. In this way, the gene and seed banks and the Crop Trust make a contribution to the diversity of agriculture, biodiversity and feeding the growing world population. 

In its Agenda 2030, the United Nations 17 goals for sustainable development set in the world. “End hunger, achieve food security and better nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture,” is goal number two.

The Crop Trust was founded according to the "International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture" (Plant Treaty). Twenty years ago, 20 countries and the European Union agreed on various measures to protect and preserve the diversity of plant varieties in agriculture.

Around 1700 gene and seed banks worldwide

The 1700 state and private gene and seed banks around the world store samples of around seven million genetically different crops in order to preserve them for posterity and make them accessible to breeders, farmers and science. The most important of these are grain, potatoes and rice: around 200.000 different types of rice are mainly stored in Asia's gene and seed banks.  

Where the seeds cannot be stored, they grow the plants and care for them so that fresh seedlings of all varieties are always available.

The Crop Trust networks these institutions. Trust spokesman Luis Salazar calls the diversity of species and varieties the "foundation of our diet".

One of the largest and most diverse of these genebanks operates this Leibniz Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research IPK in Saxony-Anhalt. His research serves, among other things, the "improved adaptability of important cultivated plants to the changing climatic and environmental conditions."

The climate crisis is changing the environment faster than animals and plants can adapt. The seed and gene banks are therefore becoming increasingly important for feeding the world.

The climate is changing faster than the crops can adapt

Even the seed banks can hardly protect us from the consequences of the changes that we humans are causing on earth. Nobody knows whether the seeds will still thrive after years or decades of storage under the very different climatic conditions of the future.

Many non-governmental organizations are critical of the participation of agricultural groups such as Syngenta and Pioneer in CropTrust. They earn their money with genetically modified seeds and with patents on seeds, which the farmers can then only use for high license fees. 

Misereor spokesman Markus Wolter still praises the initiative of the Norwegian government. This show with the Svalbard Seed Vault what treasure mankind has with seeds from all over the world. 

Treasure chest for everyone 

In the Seed Vault, not only companies, but any and all seeds can be stored free of charge. As an example, he cites the Cherokee, a First Nations people in the USA. But it is even more important that the seeds of mankind are preserved in sito, i.e. in the fields. Because nobody knows whether the stored seeds will still thrive after decades under completely different climatic conditions. Farmers need freely accessible seeds that are adapted to their local conditions and that they can further develop on their fields outside. However, in view of the ever stricter approval regulations for seeds, this is becoming more and more difficult, warns Stig Tanzmann, seed expert at the organization “Bread for the World”. There are also international treaties such as UPOV, which restrict the exchange and trade of seeds that are not patented.

Debt bondage for patented seeds

In addition, according to a Misereor report, more and more farmers have to go into debt in order to buy patented seeds - usually in a package with the right fertilizer and pesticide. If the harvest then turns out to be less than planned, the farmers would no longer be able to repay the loans. A modern form of debt bondage. 

Stig Tanzmann also observes that the large seed companies are increasingly incorporating gene sequences from other plants or from their own development into existing seeds. This enables them to have this patented and collect license fees for each use.

For Judith Düesberg from the non-governmental organization Gen-Ethischen Netzwerk, it also depends on who has access to the seed banks if necessary. Today these are mainly museums that “do little for food security”. She gives examples from India. There, breeders tried to breed traditional, non-genetically modified cotton varieties, but could not find the necessary seeds anywhere. It is similar to rice growers who are working on flood-resistant varieties. This also proves that seeds must be preserved, especially in the fields and in the everyday life of farmers. Only when used in the fields can the seeds be adapted to the rapidly changing climate and soil conditions. And the local farmers know best what is thriving in their fields.

Info:

Gene ethical network: Critical to genetic engineering and international seed companies

MASIPAG: Network of more than 50.000 farmers in the Philippines who grow rice themselves and exchange seeds with one another. In this way they make themselves independent of the large seed corporations