There are about 1,750 seed banks around the world “that collect, store, regenerate and distribute crop varieties and their ancestors in perpetuity,” says Ensia. There are literally millions of accessions. “Yet, despite their importance to a food-secure future, gene banks suffer myriad challenges, one of which — a lack of secure funding — is manmade, widespread and perennial.” A former leader of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an umbrella group based in Bonn, says, “I can’t name a single gene bank that operates on a secure, multiyear budget.”
“The result? Gene banks limp along,” says the article by Virginia Gewin. The Diversty Trust plans to launch a drive in April 2016 for $150 million, the first step toward a hoped-for endowment of $850 million from governments, foundations, nonprofit groups and industry. Besides funding, seed banks face the risk of being caught in war zones, damaged by storms, floods or fire, displaced by urban growth, or devastated by diseases and pests. At any given time, a gene bank is under threat, says Ensia. Another challenge is periodic regeneration of the seed collections by planting them and harvesting the fruit.
“But gene banks are arguably at a turning point,” Gewin writes. “An international consortium of gene banks, academics and industry recently launched an effort, dubbed DivSeek, to systematically link genes and traits of seeds. As well, the Global Crop Diversity Trust is hosting a budding centralized database of gene bank inventories, called Genesys, which will enable researchers to mine collections in ways that have never been accessible before.”