Seed Savers Exchange has deposited more seeds at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Seed Savers Exchange has deposited 627,596 more seeds at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, bringing the number of seeds it has sent to the seed vault to over three million.

Seed Savers Exchange maintains a collection of more than 20,000 varieties of heirloom and open pollinated varieties of seeds and plants.  Seed regenerations are done every year in Decorah to ensure that SSE has enough viable seed in storage to protect the variety.

If a regeneration produces sufficient seed for the organization's short and medium term needs, the extra seed is sent to Svalbard and/or the USDA seed vault in Fort Collins, Colorado--ensuring that if SSE ever has a catastrophic problem with their seed vault, the collection is still protected.

Svalbard was built in 2008 by the Norwegian government to store seed samples from around the world as an insurance policy against the loss of diversity due to natural disasters, the effects of war and changes in global farming practices. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was designed to act as a safety deposit box for seed banks.  Each depositor retains exclusive ownership and access to the seeds it stores at Svalbard.  If seed reserves stored elsewhere are destroyed, the seeds deposited in seed banks act as a reserve for future planting, protecting the biodiversity of the planet.  

To date, Seed Savers Exchange has deposited 3,361,100 seeds from 3,087 varieties at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and seeds from 5,795 varieties at the USDA seed vault.