Gene banks from 30 countries sent more than 48,000 seed samples to the Hallvard Seed Archive this week, one of the largest deposits since the vault opened deep inside a mountainside more than a decade ago. Boxes of seeds, sealed in foil packets, were carried into the vault's frozen chambers, where they will be stored at minus 18 degrees.
The archive acts as a backup for the world's crop collections. It does not own the seeds it holds; each depositing gene bank keeps the right to withdraw its samples if its own collection is lost through war, fire, flooding or simple equipment failure. The vault, run by an international foundation, is designed to keep seeds viable for decades even if its cooling system were to fail.
Old varieties from the Asher Valley
Among this week's deposits were 214 samples from the Asher Valley Heritage Seed Library, a volunteer-run collection near Wrenhaven. They include old local wheat and barley varieties grown in the valley before modern breeding, as well as runner beans and peas kept by families for generations.
Kerrie Maddox, who helped set up the library, said some of the varieties had been rescued from a single farmer's shed. "One of our wheats survived because a grower kept a sack every year after his neighbours had all switched to newer types," she said. "Sending a copy to the vault means it does not depend on one shed, or on us, any more."
Seeds are the memory of farming. Losing a variety is like losing a book of which there is only one copy.
Scientists say older varieties can carry useful traits, such as tolerance of drought, heat or particular diseases, that breeders may need as growing conditions change. Dr Anwen Rees, a plant geneticist at the foundation, said interest from smaller and community seed banks had grown sharply in recent years.
The vault now holds samples of more than a million distinct crop varieties. Its next opening for deposits is planned for February, when further shipments are expected from gene banks in Africa and South America.