A part of the world's crop genetic diversity is stored in a network of collections. We have one right here in Corvallis: a branch of the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=20-72-15-00
The focus of the Corvallis branch (from their website):
This unit was established to collect, maintain, distribute, evaluate, and document germplasm of hazelnut, strawberry, hop, mint, pear, currant, gooseberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, and specialty temperate fruit and nut crops and their wild relatives.
Similar repositories exist around the world focusing on different crops. They act very much like lending libraries. They store the genetic diversity of crops partly as an archive, but also to make that diversity more accessible to researchers and plant breeders.
One important part of this network is the so called doomsday seed vault that is built into a mountain in Norway's high arctic. The role of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is to hold backup copies from the other germplasm repositories around the world in case something horrible happens to one of the nodes of the germplasm network. The frigid and dry arctic location was chosen to make it less susceptible to day to day mishaps like power cuts. Now, just ten years after the seed bank was established, they have had a request for a withdrawal. The Syrian civil war has damaged the seed bank housed in Aleppo, and put the collection there in serious jeopardy. The seed bank is relocating to Beirut, Lebanon and they want to restock the new location with seeds from the Svalbard vault. Check out this Reuters story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/21/us-mideast-crisis-seeds-idUSKCN0RL1KA20150921
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