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1. Understand the importance of genetic diversity in our food crops
2. Understand how we can protect these genetic resources

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Check out this diversity...

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With a climate changing faster than most crops can adapt and food security under threat around the world, scientists have found hope in a living museum dedicated to a staple eaten by millions daily: the humble potato.

High in the Peruvian Andes, agronomists are looking to the ancestral knowledge of farmers to identify genetic strains which could help the tubers survive increasingly frequent and intense droughts, floods and frosts.

The Potato Park in Cusco is a 90 sq km (35 sq mile) expanse ranging from 3,400 to 4,900 metres (16,000 feet) above sea level. It has "maintained one of the highest diversities of native potatoes in the world, in a constant process of evolution," says Alejandro Argumedo, the founder of Asociación Andes, an NGO which supports the park.

"By sowing potatoes at different altitudes and in different combinations, these potatoes create new genetic expressions which will be very important to respond to the challenges of climate change."

Under a cobalt sky by an icy mountain lagoon, a father and his son-in-law hoe thick brown soil. They pull out reddish potatoes and throw them into waiting sacks.

The pucasawsiray potatoesthey gather are among the 1,367 varieties in the park, which lies in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The intensely cultivated patchwork of tiny fields and graded terraces is a living laboratory of potato diversity.

The potato was domesticated 7,000 years ago by the ancestors of these Peruvian peasant farmers on the shores of Lake Titicaca, between modern-day Peru and Bolivia, say archaeologists. The Potato Park is considered a secondary centre of origin for the potato, which today is grown on every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Scientists at the US space agency Nasa and the Peru-based International Potato Centre have even been testing whether potatoes can be grown on Mars.

The Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas have myriad descriptive names for the cornucopia of potatoes grown and eaten in Peru's southern Andes, from a squat, greyish tuber named after an alpaca's nose to a yellow indented tatty called puma maqui, or puma's paw. There is even a maddeningly knobbly potato known as pusi qhachun wachachi, whose name literally means "make your daughter-in-law cry", as it has frustrated so many prospective wives who have tried to pass the test of trying to peel it.

They come in every colour and texture; reds, yellows, blues and purples, sometimes shocking pink ringed with white when cut in half. Some have a powdery texture, others are waxy and some moray or chuño are are too bitter to eat until they are soaked, freeze-dried on rooftops and trampled on to remove their skins. These can be stored for months and used in winter soups.

But now these potatoes are bearing the brunt of global heating, which is drawing pests further uphill, forcing farmers to sow the crop in the upper reaches of the park on the limit of arable land. The park residents are conducting tests to see how resistant the native varieties are to frost, hail and intense sunlight and also to the Andean potato weevil, whose larvae eat through the tubers underground.

"These crops have always adapted," says Marie Haga, the executive director of the Crop Trust. "Now climate change is so fast that these poor plants are not able to adapt.

"That's why we need the diversity, because the diversity is what we use when we breed new plants which can tolerate new climates," she adds.

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A selection of native potato varieties including the cuchipa acan, alq'a piña, puka piña, conejito, condor huarmi, lleque andchiquibonita. Photograph: The International Potato Centre

The possible solution may be in what locals call the wild "grandfather" of the domesticated potato, which still grows in the highlands and is grazed on by alpacas and donkeys. The plant's green fruit looks more like a very small tomato than a potato but, as villager Nazario Quispe explains, its seed is spread in animal dung and it often grows in their corrals. Quispe says they continue to mix the crops with the wild relatives to make them more resistant.

"In laboratories, scientists are trying to solve this through gene transfer and genetic engineering, but the peasants here have been doing this kind of work for thousands of years," says Argumedo.

The results are stored in an on-site seed bank where each potato is kept in carefully coded paper bags, cooled by trenches filled with icy water and lit by rooftop windows to prevent them from taking seed. In 2017, 650 examples were taken to the global seed vault on the Norwegian island of Svalbard inside the Arctic circle, where they are stored at -18C.

At the same time in Peru's capital, Lima, the International Potato Centre, known by its Spanish acronym CIP, houses more than 4,600 types of potato and has the world's largest in vitro gene bank.

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A selection of biofortified potatoes, grown to be higher in zinc and iron. Photograph: David Dudenhoeffer/The International Potato Centre

The CIP is working in Africa and Asia where the potato is helping to combat hunger and generate income as a cash crop. It produces fast-maturing, biofortified potatoes which have improved productivity - particularly in China, which is the world's biggest grower, accounting for 22% of global potato production.

"China suffers from a severe shortage of land and water and the potato is particularly resilient to droughts," says Mei Xurong, the vice-president of the country's Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

"The question for China is how to enrich the biodiversity when you produce potatoes," he says. "This is a major challenge."

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 75% of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000 and that as much as 22% of the wild relatives of food crops will disappear by 2055 because of the changing climate.

As soil degradation intensifies and crop resilience becomes ever more important, the work being done by the potato guardians in a small park in Peru may play an important role in feeding the rest of the world.
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How Peru's potato museum could stave off world food crisis

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With a climate changing faster than most crops can adapt and food security under threat around the world, scientists have found hope in a living museum dedicated to a staple eaten by millions daily: the humble potato.

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Genetic diversity also provides species with a range of adaptations

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Genetic diversity also provides species with a range of adaptations

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Genetic diversity is the number of genetic characters in a species.
Cary Fowler gives and example of this when he describes the differences within bean and apple varieties (e.g. different colours and seed shapes).  These resources are the foundation of life.

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So what is genetic diversity important for?

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So what is genetic diversity important for?

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Genetic diversity gives farmers and plant breeders the tools to adapt their crops to changing environments.
Write in the comments some environmental changes you might expect in the future that crops will need to be adapted too.

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What is genetic diversity?

Choose two areas where crop diversity is essential and explain why.

Share your answers in the comments below this post.

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Now we need to conserve this genetic diversity.
There are two main types of conservation of crop genetic resources:

In situ: conservation in nature, such as within protected areas or nature reserves.

Ex situ: conservation outside the natural environment, most commonly within seed banks.

Want to know more? Read about both methods in this scientific paper:
https://notulaebotanicae.ro/index.php/nbha/article/view/4878/4522

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Continue with Cary Fowler's TED talk OR....

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Continue with Cary Fowler's TED talk OR....

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One seed at a time, protecting the future of food | Cary Fowler

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The Seed Vault safeguards duplicates of 1,301,397 seed samples from almost every country globally, with room for millions more. Its purpose is to back up genebank collections to secure the foundation of our future food supply.

Can't travel to the Arctic to see the Seed Vault? No worries. You can now 'visit' the Seed Vault virtually via Svalbard Global Seed Vault Virtual Tour.
Take a virtual tour of the Seed Vault

Why do we need a global seed vault?

Worldwide, more than 1,700 genebanks hold collections of food crops for safekeeping, yet many of these are vulnerable, exposed not only to natural catastrophes and war, but also to avoidable disasters, such as lack of funding or poor management. Something as mundane as a poorly functioning freezer can ruin an entire collection. And the loss of a crop variety is as irreversible as the extinction of a dinosaur, animal or any form of life. The Seed Vault stores duplicates (backups) of seed samples from the world's crop collections as a safeguard against such catastrophic loss.
Why crop diversity matters

How does it work?

The Seed Vault is the ultimate insurance policy for the world's food supply, securing millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today and offering options for future generations to overcome the challenges of climate change and population growth.

A temperature of −18°C is required for optimal storage of the seeds. Permafrost and thick rock ensure that the seed samples will remain frozen even without power. The seeds are sealed in custom-made three-ply foil packages, which are sealed inside boxes and stored on shelves inside the Seed Vault. The low temperature and moisture levels inside the Seed Vault ensure low metabolic activity, keeping the seeds viable for long periods of time.
Find out what other projects the Crop Trust is involved in

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is owned by Norway and managed in partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the regional genebank NordGen and the Crop Trust.
Visit the Seed Vault's homepage

Why Svalbard?

The Seed Vault is in an ideal location for long-term seed storage for several reasons.

The storage

The Seed Vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops. Each packet of seeds consists of an average of 500 seeds, so a maximum of 2.5 billion seeds may be stored in the Seed Vault.

As of May 2024, the Seed Vault holds more than 1.3 million seed varieties originating from almost every country in the world. These range from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley and potato. The Seed Vault already holds the most diverse collection of food crop seeds in the world.

The Seed Vault's objective is to safeguard as much of the world's unique crop genetic material as possible while also avoiding unnecessary duplication. It will take some years to assemble because some genebanks need to multiply the stock of seed first, and other seeds need to be regenerated before they can be shipped to Svalbard.

For a complete overview of the samples stored in the Seed Vault,
Visit NordGen's public online database

4.5M

Variety capacity

1,301,397

Samples in the Seed Vault

-18ºC

Temperature required

History

2023

The Seed Vault marked its 15th anniversary in February 2023 and received nearly 20,000 seed samples from 20 genebank depositors, including collections from first-time depositors from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Benin. A new virtual tour was launched.

2021

Thanks to an update to the Seed Portal, newly deposited seeds could be placed in the same box as the previous year's deposit for the first time. This will save space for future shipments from the same depositors.

2020

The Cherokee Nation became the first Indigenous group from North America to deposit when it safeguarded the seeds of nine heirloom food crops that predate European colonization.

World leaders met at the Seed Vault in February for a Seed Summit to discuss "Genetic diversity for more resilient food systems". Meanwhile, the number of seed varieties stored in the Seed Vault surpassed one million out of a total capacity of 4.5 million.

Who can take the seeds out?

The seed boxes are stored under "black-box conditions," meaning the depositors are the only ones who can withdraw their own seeds. When seeds are deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, their legal ownership is not transferred. This means that a depositor who chooses to store seeds in the Seed Vault is still the owner of the seeds and the only one who can withdraw them from the Seed Vault.
See where the Crop Trust is active around the world

What is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault provides insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in traditional genebanks around the world. The Seed Vault offers long-term protection for one of the most important natural resources onearth.

What groups are involved in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

The Seed Vault is owned and administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on behalf of the Kingdom of Norway and is established as a service to the world community. The Global Crop Diversity Trust provides support for the ongoing operations of the Seed Vault, as well as funding for the preparation and shipment of seeds from developing countries to the facility. The Nordic Genetic Resources Center (NordGen) operates the facility and maintains a public online databaseof samples stored in the seed vault. An International Advisory Council oversees the management and operations of the Seed Vault.

Why Svalbard?

Svalbard was chosen for several reasons. Its cold climate and permafrost make the area a perfect location for underground cold storage. The surrounding sandstone is stable for building and is low in radiation. In terms of security, Svalbard scores high marks compared to the locations of many other genebanks in the world. The infrastructure is good, with daily flights and a reliable source of energy from local coal supplies. The vault is located an extraordinary 120 meters (393.7 feet) into the rock, ensuring that the vault rooms will remain naturally frozen even in the event of failure of the mechanical cooling system and rising external air temperatures due to climate change.

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is our insurance against the loss of crop diversity and is the world's largest backup facility for seeds.

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https://create.kahoot.it/share/conservation-of-crop-genetic-diversity/77a00492-7fcd-43c9-a406-686e296b08c6

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DISCUSSION: Why is it important to have a global seed vault to protect seeds ex situ and not only to do in situ conservation?

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DISCUSSION: Why is it important to have a global seed vault to protect seeds ex situ and not only to do in situ conservation?

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Share your answers in the comments below

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Where the heck is Svalbard?
Can you add locations of any other seed banks? (hint: there are some globally important ones listed here https://www.genebanks.org/ )