Latest Cary Fowler Stories

Third birthday of arctic repository brings surge in seed deposits, but also reminders from Egypt, Australia and Russia of natural and man-made risks to global agricultureThe Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) celebrated its third anniversary today with the arrival of seeds for rare lima beans, blight-resistant cantaloupe, and progenitors of antioxidant-rich red tomatoes from Peru and the Galapagos Islands. The arrival of these collections, including many drought- and flood-resistant varieties,...

Global field expeditions aim to help farmers adapt to climate change by securing valuable genetic traits of key food cropsThe Global Crop Diversity Trust today announced a major global search to systematically find, gather, catalogue, use, and save the wild relatives of wheat, rice, beans, potato, barley, lentils, chickpea, and other essential food crops, in order to help protect global food supplies against the imminent threat of climate change, and strengthen future food security.The...

Hearing date is Aug. 11 for Pavlovsk Fruit Collection case; Russian government called on to interveneAs the fate of Europe's largest collection of fruit and berries hangs in the balance of a Russian court decision, the Global Crop Diversity Trust issued an urgent appeal for the Russian government to embrace its heroic tradition as protector of the world's crop diversity and halt the planned destruction of an incredibly valuable crop collection near St. Petersburg. Pavlovsk Experiment Station...

US seed collection delivers valuable varieties of chili peppers and hundreds of sorghum varieties, an essential 'climate ready' cropA new collection of some of North America's hottest foods"”an eclectic range of New World chili peppers"”were delivered to the cool Arctic Circle environs of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week, where their exotic tongue-scorching qualities can be kept safe for centuries.The seeds were delivered to the vault by a seven-person bipartisan delegation from...

The foundation that oversees the Svalbard Global Seed Vault said Thursday that the unique Arctic "doomsday" stockpile of all the world's crop seeds has reached the half-million species mark. The latest additions to the vault are a mold-resistant wild bean from Costa Rica, a vulnerable strawberry from a bear-infested part of Russia's Kuril islands and a host of American soybeans. "Reaching the half-million mark brings mixed emotions," said Cary Fowler, executive director of...

As rapidly rising temperatures in Africa threaten to scorch local varieties of maize and other food staples, the food security of many Africans will depend on farmers in one country gaining access to climatically suitable varieties now being cultivated in other African nations, and beyond, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Global Environmental Change.But the study, conducted by researchers at Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment and the Rome-based...

The "doomsday seed vault" in the Arctic Circle is celebrating its first anniversary with the arrival of nearly 90,000 food crop seed samples, BBC News reported.After the four-ton shipment, more than 20 million seeds are now secure in the frozen repository.The $7 million Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built over 12 months some 426 feet inside a mountain, with the ultimate goal of protecting the world's food crop species against natural and human disasters. The facility opened in...

Push by Global Crop Diversity Trust is rapidly reviving ailing seed samples from 46 countries that could provide genetic traits vital to maintaining global food securityOnly two years after launching an ambitious effort to save endangered crop species, the Global Crop Diversity Trust announced today it is on track to save from extinction 100,000 different varieties of food crops from 46 countries, making it one of the largest and most successful biological rescue efforts ever...

A vault designed to house more than 4 million seed samples from crops around the world drew attention from the global community yesterday.The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built in 12 months with the repercussions of global climate change in mind. It is said to be able to take on any natural or human disaster. About 300 guests were present at the event. Norwegian Prime Minister Jen Stoltenberg and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai were the first to place seeds in the depository during the...

Seeds Contributed by Global Network of Agricultural Research Centers Considered "Crown Jewels" of Crop Diversity MEXICO CITY -- At the end of January, more than 200,000 crop varieties from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East"”drawn from vast seed collections maintained by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)"”will be shipped to a remote island near the Arctic Circle, where they will be stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), a facility...