Seed Bank

November 21, 2025

Today’s NYT The Morning scroll included a link to photos and an article from Times photographer Ruth Fremson about an island used to gather seeds to replace parts of the deforested Amazon forest.  The Brazilian government built a hydroelectric dam fifty years ago and flooded 100s of 1,000s of acres of rainforest along the Tocantins River and transforming a mountainous peak into an island.  That island now supplies seeds to replenish deforested areas and preserve native species throughout the Amazon.  Workers arrive by boat and scale towering trees to reach the fruit that contains the seeds which are then donated to schools, government agencies, and farmers.  The owner of the dam, AXIA Energia, said it compensated the 32,000 people displaced by the project and uses the seed bank to replenish areas throughout the Amazon.  Workers gathered almost nine million seeds last year and are on pace to far exceed that amount this year.  Their seed bank stores about 30 million seeds in one of three chambers (cold, humid, and dry).

When I went online, I found the worlds’ largest seed bank is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a secure backup facility for the world’s crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.  The vault provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from around the world, conserved in gene banks.  This provides security of the world’s food supply against the loss of seeds in gene banks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters.  The vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).  The Norwegian government entirely funded the Seed Vault’s KR$45 million (US$8.8 million in 2008) construction cost.  Norway and the Crop Trust pay for operational costs and storing seeds in the vault is free to depositors.  As of June 2025, the seed bank conserves 1,355,591 accessions, representing more than 13,000 years of agricultural history.

Another Amazon Basin living seed bank is located at Camino Verde in the richly biodiverse region of Madre de Dios in Peru.  This resource grows over 400 species of native trees and plants, and some with often incredible properties little-known to science.  Camino Verde sits alongside the Tambopata River, whose basin is one of the richest ecological areas on the planet.  It is home to native (endemic) species of birds, reptiles, and mammals, along with at least 1,255 plant species.  However, the unique biodiversity of this region has been disappearing over the past decades.  In 2020, Peru recorded its highest levels of deforestation in history, with a total of 502,296 acres (203,272 ha) of Amazonian forest lost due largely to logging and mining.  Since 2001, almost 741,3161 acres (3 million ha) have been deforested.  Similar deforestation is taking place across the tropics both legally and illegally.

THOUGHTS: I do not have a seed bank, but Melissa did buy me several 100 packets of seed two Christmases ago.  I used several varieties that first year and then replanted some of the leftover seeds again this year.  Most seed packets state the year of intended use and many also list minimum germination standards and usual seed life.  Seeds that have been stored in a cool, dry place are generally viable for at least a year past the season for which they were packaged and may be good for up to five years.  I realize I do not have the perfect conditions required for a seed bank, but I was surprised by how many of the seeds were not viable.  My “survival seed packets” are still sealed in airtight packaging intended to keep them viable for longer periods.  The oldest viable seed ever planted and successfully grown is a 32,000-year-old narrow-leafed campion (Silene stenophylla) found in the Siberian permafrost. Preserving seeds for the next year is another step toward being sustainable.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.