b"From Spark Plug Boxesto a World-Class Facility:PGRC MARKS 50 YEARSNow a half-century old, Canadas national gene bank system continues to play a vital role in preserving the genetic diversity of essential food crops.Mark HalsallTHIS YEAR MARKSthe 50th anniver- the world would have been lost if we sary of Canadas national genedidn't have these genetic resources.bank system, known as Plant GeneBryan Harvey is an emeri-Resources of Canada (PGRC),tus professor at the University of which was established to preserveSaskatchewan who was appointed the genetic diversity of cultivatedto the Order of Canada for his crops, their wild relatives, and nativeoutstanding achievements in barley Canadian plant species for food andbreeding. He served many years on agriculture. the Canadian Expert Committee on Axel Diederichsen, research scien- Plant and Microbial Gene Resources tist and curator of the PGRC, says theand was a strong proponent of a federal governments decision to createnational seed bank at the time the a national, centralized seed bank inPGRC was established at Agri-Food 1970 was a reflection of the times. Foods Central Experimental Farm In the late 1960s, many countriesin Ottawa in 1970. His barley variety around the world started to realizeCDC Copeland, which dominates the how important genetic resourcesbrewing world, won a Canadian Plant were for agriculture and food produc- Axel Diederichsen, curator of Plant GeneBreeding Innovation (CPBI) award tion, says Diederichsen. BecauseResources of Canada. Photo: AAFC. earlier this year.a lot of genetic diversity was disap- Harvey recalls that in the begin-pearing, they realized that it was verymaterials? You need to have an activening, the seed bank was run on important to preserve it. gene bank that can maintain thema shoestring budget and only had Diederichsen notes that back then,and grow it out and make sure thattwo staff members, a curator and a numerous seed collections were heldyou have viable seeds to distribute,technician, who worked out of a re-here and there by public and privatehe says. purposed garage on the farm. plant breeders in various locationsDiederichsen is a staunch believerThey had all these envelopes across Canada. There was growingthat germplasm preservation is vitalwhich contained the seeds, and they concern about what would happenfor the continued sustainability ofneeded something to put them in. to all this material in the event ofagriculture. What they used was Delco Spark retirements and other circumstances,Theres been many changes overPlug boxes that happened to be just which could leave some valuablethe last 100 years during the indus- the right size for doing that, Harvey collections orphaned with no placetrialization of agriculture, he says.laughs. to go. A lot of the diversity that we have atIt's funny now, but that's where How do you preserve thesePGRC or in other gene banks aroundit started, he says. Now, we have a 30GERMINATION.CANOVEMBER 2020"