Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Including Tomato Seeds, Opens
By Michelle Fabio
As of last month, the Arctic Ocean is home to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s first deep-frozen collection of seeds of hundreds of thousands of plants, including our beloved tomatoes.
According to its website, the seed vault, owned and administered by Norway’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food, was created to “provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in traditional seed banks around the world.”
The vault’s construction was funded by the Norwegian government ($9 million) and is also financially supported by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Global Crop Diversity Trust, with funds from countries, international agencies, and foundations, will pay for the continuing operation of the vault.
In addition to tomato seeds, among the seeds in the vault are lettuce, spinach, cabbage, potato, onion, leek, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, pea, wheat, barley, oats, maize, and flax; at most, the seed vault can hold up to 2.25 billion seeds, and collection and storage is ongoing.
For more information: Frequently Asked Questions about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Buried Seed Vault Opens in Arctic
April 13th, 2008 at 10:51 am
What a hugely wonderful thing this is!
April 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I remember listening to a story about this on NPR a few weeks ago. It made me so giddy that I think I actually “woohoo’d” while driving to the supermarket.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
This is such an amazing project. It absolutely had to have tomatoes.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Agreeing with all of you! And yes, tomatoes definitely had to be in there