Seed Bank.... An interesting article... Maybe things are a little worse than even the worlds politicians and scientists are saying..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6335899.stm#graph
Seed banks have been around for some time. Some are government run---Canada and the United States both have banks. The Millenium Seed Bank (Royal Botanic Garden, Kew) is one of the better known projects. Seed banks were originally started in recogniztion of the thousands upon thousands of species of plant life that we have lost throughout the ages. The seed banks are an effort to prevent the loss of any more. Then GMOs became an issue, so seeds of grains, vegetables and fruits became the focus to ensure the continuance of "natural" food plants. Svalbard is interesting for where it is. After the tsunami increased awareness of the growing occurrence of catastrophic events throughout the world, particularly in the third world countries who are most vulnerable to such events, attention focused on the need to preserve seeds from areas such as Malaysia. Because of climate, low-lying areas and many other factors, those areas are not suitable for the storage of seed. Thus Svalbard, because of location and stable government, presents a very attractive situation. I personally do not think that the increased interest in seed banks means things are worse than we are being told. I think mankind has finally woken up and realized that in order to preserve what we have, we have to act now. There is no tomorrow. Every day that is lost means more plant material is lost to us forever.
Exactly my point. Now let us hope that events will continue in this manner and that some new government will not come along and decide that such matters are a waste of money. I hope that interest in Svalbard will inspire many more individuals to do what they can to preserve food species. It takes little room to store seeds in a freezer.
Do you need to dry seeds to a certain moisture level in order to freeze (preserve) them? I have a number of seeds in my refrigerator, but how many years they will be viable, I don't know, so your suggestion is interesting.
