Seed banks play a central role in preserving plant genetic diversity, ensuring irreplaceable resources for food and global agricultural resilience. The creation and maintenance of these banks not only safeguards seeds from traditional and wild crops, but also constitutes a true insurance policy against crises such as natural disasters, habitat loss, plant diseases, pests, and challenges associated with climate change.
International treaties and commitments: foundations of conservation
El International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture establishes the international obligation to conserve the genetic resources of agricultural plants and promotes the exchange and sustainable use of these resources both nationally and internationally. One of the most emblematic examples of this commitment is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located deep within a Norwegian mountain. This facility ensures the conservation and global availability of genetic resources and reflects the growing importance given to seed protection against unforeseen threats.
Definition: What are seed banks?
The seed banks –also called germplasm banks– are specialized facilities for the collection, storage and conservation of seeds belonging to countless plant species, both agricultural and wild. Its central mission is safeguard seed reserves capable of restoring crops that have been lost due to environmental dynamics, diseases, pests or genetic erosion caused by industrialized monocultures.
The structure of these banks guarantees optimal humidity and temperature conditions, through a strict protocol from collection to storage, which preserves the viability of the seeds for decades or even centuries.
Seed banks and food security: protection against uncertainty
The Svalbard Global Seed Bank, capable of storing millions of samples, serves as global support for plant genetic resources used in modern and traditional agriculture. However, there are hundreds of regional, national, and community banks resulting from public and private initiatives on different continents. They all pursue a dual objective: protection of genetic diversity and facilitating access to plant material for researchers and farmers.
Thanks to seed banks, the disappearance of species and varieties is avoided that contain genetic traits critical for crop adaptation to adverse conditions. For example, the conservation of wild relatives of crops such as wheat, rice, corn, or legumes provides a reservoir of genes for resistance to drought, salinity, or emerging diseases.
Conservation of agricultural biodiversity: needs and challenges
During agricultural industrialization and the expansion of monocultures, the genetic diversity of crops has decreased alarminglyThe replacement of native varieties with improved ones has contributed to the disappearance of more than 90% of local crop varieties from fields in the last century, according to international studies. This loss implies a reduced capacity to respond to food or environmental challenges.
Seed banks ensure the rescue, preservation and rational use of agrobiodiversity.They store seeds of traditional, native, and wild crops, often with the active participation of local communities, who also contribute to the exchange and reintroduction of varieties into agricultural systems for human and animal consumption.
Strategic benefits of seed banks
- They preserve the genetic diversity of plants, including species at risk of extinction and local varieties with extraordinary adaptations to specific climatic conditions.
- They facilitate rapid seed replacement in the event of losses caused by disasters, diseases or environmental pollution.
- They provide diverse genetic material which enables the creation of new crops with resistance to pests, droughts or diseases, improving food productivity and sustainability.
- They protect rare or little-known species, allowing its recovery and subsequent reintroduction into the natural or agricultural environment.
- They promote modern agricultural research, accelerating the development of nutritious crops adapted to new production scenarios.
Seed conservation strategies and methods
Centralized and family network banks
There are various organizational modalities: centralized banks managed by a community collective, family banks where each family holds a portion of the reservoir, and combined systems that integrate both structures for greater flexibility and genetic reach.
Each model promotes the safe storage, sharing and redistribution of seeds, helping ensure that future generations have access to adapted and sustainable resources. Good practices include thorough cleaning, sorting, preventive treatments against insects or diseases and use of airtight containers to preserve viability.
Ex situ and in situ conservation
In addition to classic storage, conservation can be carried out ex situ (outside the original habitat, in banks) or in situ (protection in the natural environment). Both methods are complementary: ex situ prevents massive losses, while in situ preserves evolutionary and adaptive processes.
Social impact: resilience, equality and food security
The action of seed banks It not only benefits industrial or market agriculture; has a profound effect on rural communities and small producers, especially in regions vulnerable to climate change. Community seed banks provide access to healthy and affordable seeds, preserve ancestral agricultural knowledge, and promote food autonomy through selection of varieties best adapted locally.
The role of women In the selection and preservation of seeds, it is essential. Traditionally, women not only select the best seeds for the following year's planting, but also, through training processes, adopt innovations that improve conservation and health quality from the seeds.
Seed banks offer access to a unique genetic variety which drives the advancement of botanical, genetic, and agronomic research. Thanks to them, scientists and breeders can select germplasm resistant to new threats (pests, emerging diseases, extreme droughts), improving the production and nutritional quality of food.
For example, in reference institutions such as Agrosavia in Colombia, they are preserved Thousands of accessions in seed banks, in vitro and in the fieldThese collections enable ecological restoration, genetic improvement, and sustainable development. At the same time, farmer networks and community banks promote the local exchange and recovery of traditional seeds adapted to each region.
Seed management and maintenance: key technical aspects
The physiological quality of all stored seeds is protected through periodic germination tests, humidity and temperature controls, pre-cleaning, and the use of ideal containers. Technical institutions and community organizations provide instruction in good conservation practices, such as composting and organic waste management, which in turn contribute to agricultural sustainability and the reduction of chemical inputs.
- Drying and airtight containers:After collection, the seeds must be completely dried before storing them in airtight containers.
- Organization and labeling:It is essential to keep accurate records of varieties, collection dates, and the origin of stored seeds.
- Exchange and loanBanks facilitate community lending or exchange, allowing for rapid reintroduction in the event of crop failure.
Applications in urban, school and home gardens
Having a seed bank in the urban or school garden itself provides not only independence for future planting, but also greater adaptation of plants to local microclimatesThe experience is both educational and rewarding, especially when rescuing seeds from traditional, non-commercial varieties adapted to the local environment.
Seed banks are an essential tool for protecting biodiversity, sustainable development, food security, and adapting to future challenges. Their existence and proper functioning represent one of the pillars on which resilient agriculture, advanced botanical research, and the preservation of humanity's genetic heritage are based. The involvement of institutions, community networks, and individual farmers makes seed stewardship a shared endeavor, vital to the balance of ecosystems and life on the planet.