Near the North Pole is an underground vault holding over a million seeds in case our food supply is threatened. From dodging Indonesian storms to smuggling seeds out of Syria, how far will scientists go to protect something as small as a seed? Who owns the seeds, and who gets to withdraw them when we need them? With just 30 crops providing 95% of the world’s food, will we need them sooner than we think? From dodging storms in Indonesia to smuggling seeds out of Syria, how far will scientists go to protect something as small as a seed?

Episode Breakdown: What is the vault like? | Who has access? | Who owns the seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault? | How does the vault protect biodiversity around the world | What are ag companies doing to ensure food security? | What can we do?

To learn more about Asmund Asdal, Stefan Schmitz and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, visit The Crop Trust at: https://www.croptrust.org/. To learn more about the story of the Syrian gene bank, visit: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-07-25/how-a-syrian-genebank-secured-over-100000-seeds-during-wartime-maybe-saving-the-future-of-wheat/. Learn more about the Food Forever Champions for biodiversity at https://www.food4ever.org/champion/.