30 I SEED WORLD EUROPE I SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | MAY 2026 G enebanks provide a public good. It may seem that supporting gen ebanks does not give immediate benefits to individual companies. But jointly making sure that genebanks can continue to operate and improve in their key roles towards both the conservation and use of crop diversity, serves the global community of breeders and thus each company. Breeders always maintain a working collection of their most important gene pool as potential parents for their work. Several companies have invested in a much wider collection for future use. National and international genebanks on the other hand aim to safeguard the global diversity of crops and their wild relatives. Even though researchers appear to be the largest user of genebank materials for large scale allelic diversity screening, gene function analysis and the like, prac tical breeders in both the public and pri vate sectors are the next largest user group. Genebanks are essential for breeders; breed ers are essential for global nutrition security and agricultural development in the face of changing climates and demographics. Genebanks are therefore part of the essential infrastructure of the global agri cultural community. Their content is an important public good, albeit subject to national sovereign rights and international agreements. The Convention on Biological Diversity puts an important responsibil ity on governments to conserve and make available biological diversity, which logically would involve the management and funding of their genebanks. However, governments may not be able to avoid disruptions due to natural or human-made disasters, which might lead to an unrepairable loss of certain genetic resources. Also, government finan cial priorities may shift. The Crop Trust was established to provide a solid financial foundation for the most important collections through an Endowment Fund. Governments have contributed very significantly to the fund, which currently stands at some US$ 400 million. The returns currently cover the essential operations of key international genebanks, but the funds are not yet suffi cient to fully fund the conservation efforts in perpetuity yet. Companies have contrib uted smaller amounts to the endowment, which sends an important positive message, but the seed industry is not expected to con tribute the remaining millions needed. Together with the government of Norway and the joint genebank of the Nordic Countries NordGen, the Crop Trust has established the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, a secure facility for safety back-ups of an increasing part of national and international genebank col lections worldwide. Last February the doors of the Global Seed Vault opened during an ice storm to receive boxes of samples from genebanks in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Niger and Germany, and from international genebanks such as the World Vegetable Center. On that occa sion, the second Svalbard Dialogue was held, with a particular focus on how the private sector can support genebanks and the Crop Trust. The private sector has an important role in communicating the importance of gene banks and the diversity they hold, stress ing their essential role in the resilience and sustainability of our food systems, i.e. for humanity. This communication is relevant for the wider public, but especially important for governments and other potential funding agencies. They need to hear that investment to safeguard crop diversity is essential, both in the Crop Trust Endowment Fund and in their national and regional genebanks. Working together to build a strong global genebank system is essential. Several companies already support the operation of genebanks, sharing knowledge and facilities, and in some instances finan cially. In the Netherlands, the upgrad ing of the genebank infrastructure in Wageningen would not have been possible without both the push and generous dona tions by companies. Supporting genebanks is support towards future food system resilience and is not of immediate self-interest. A good start has been made to discuss the different ways that the seed sector can provide support by and others to do so. These discussions will continue! SUPPORTING GENEBANKS: ENLIGHTENED SELF INTEREST BY: NIELS LOUWAARS, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER OF CROP TRUST Niels Louwaars (right), author of this article, stands in front of the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault during severe Arctic conditions, underscoring the remote and secure setting chosen to safeguard the world’s crop diversity. The facility, established by the Norwegian government, NordGen and the Crop Trust, serves as the ultimate safety backup for national and international genebanks, protecting invaluable genetic resources against both natural and human-made disruptions.
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