In addition to public health concerns, the over-saturation of chemicals has decimated beneficial insect populations, such as pollinators like bees and butterflies.Ĭompanies produce hybrid varieties which only grow a single generation of crops, meaning farmers can no longer save seeds each season and instead must purchase new seeds each year. These plants have been bred to withstand pesticides and herbicides, such as the controversial chemical glyphosate, a potential carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). Another change is t he commodification of seeds by private companies which has standardized and created homogeneous crop varieties. Within the past half-century, industrial agriculture has drastically changed farming practices, with new technology aiding large-scale crop production. Industrial Agriculture: Monoculture and Biodiversity Loss It holds a wealth of diversity, containing over 10,000 years of agricultural history, with seeds originating from almost every country in the world. The vault contains the world’s largest collection of agricultural biodiversity, with over 1.1 million seed samples, representing 5,500 plant species. In contrast, the Svalbard Vault is situated above sea level, with permafrost and dense rock keeping the seeds frozen at -18✬, without the need for electricity. Further, alternate gene banks located worldwide are threatened by erratic power supplies, lack of funding, and poor management. The Doomsday Vault provides a safeguard against natural and human-induced disasters that may threaten other seed banks and impact food security, such as disease, climate change, biodiversity loss, and war. It is located on Spitsbergen Island, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago chosen for its remoteness, the gene bank acts as a backup collection for the world’s crop diversity. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault – commonly known as the ‘Doomsday Vault’ – lays buried beneath the permafrost, 150 metres into a mountainside within the Arctic Circle. – Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust) “At a first glance, seeds may not look like much, but within them lies the foundation of our future food and nutrition security, and the possibility for a world without hunger.”
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