Is Man Destroying His Own Food Supply? - Variety - Essential to Life

Woes at the Bank 

Seed banks cost money to run-annually a total of about 300 million, according to Tuxill. However, even this amount may be inadequate, he notes, for "only 13 percent of gene-banked seeds are in well-run facilities with long-term storage capability."  Because poorly stored seeds do not last long, they must be planted early so that the next generation of seeds can be harvested; otherwise, seed banks become seed morgues.  Of course, such work is labor-intensive, which only complicates matters for facilities that are already hard-pressed for funds.

The book Seeds of Change-The Living Treasure explains that the National Seed Storage Laboratory, in Colorado, U.S.A., has "suffered multiple difficulties, including power failures, broken refrigeration equipment, and under-staffing that has left  enormous, chaotic piles of seed uncatalogued." Seed banks are also subject to political upheavals, economic downturns and natural disasters.

Long-term storage creates other problems too.   In their natural environment, plants have a limited but vital ability to adapt, and this enables them to survive disease and other challenges.  But in the protected environment of a seed bank, they may after  a few generations lose some of that resilience.  Well-stored seeds  of many plants may, however, last for centuries, the very existence of seed banks  reflects the growing concerns about the future of mankind's food crops. 

Of course, the best way to reduce extinction is to protect native habitats and revitalize diversity in crops. But to do that, says Tuxill, we need to "develop a new balance between human needs and that of the natural world."  How realistic, though, is it to think that humans will "develop a new balance" with the natural world while they pursue industrial and economic progress with almost a religious zeal?" Even agriculture,m as we have seen, is being assimilated into the high-tech, market-driven world of big-business.  There must be another answer.  

Next time: Who Will Feed the World?

From the Awake! magazine