Katzenjammer
01-25-2009, 03:43 AM
This is from a mailing I just received. They're at www.stokeseeds.com. The support they offer is quite limited and conditional (you have to place a $25 order to get them to match a $2 donation) but it's not nothing:
"Together with the air we breathe and the water we drink, crop diversity is one of the most fundamentally important resources for human life on earth.
This diversity is awe-inspiring – there are more than 200,000 varieties of wheat alone. Conserving our crops provides the natural, biological basis of our ability to grow the food required today, as well as to meet the challenges of population growth, changing climates and constantly evolving pests and diseases. Quite simply, there is no possibility of feeding ourselves without it.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust is a new international organization, committed to ensuring that the complete genetic diversity of every crop is preserved.
This independent organization was established by a partnership between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the global consortium of the foremost international research organizations. Funds raised by them will ensure a cost-effective system for the conservation of the resources, which underpin all agriculture and the world’s future food supplies.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
One of the trust’s responsibilities is to collect duplicates of the world’s seed collections to be stored in Svalbard as the ultimate safety backup for our food supply.
The world’s seedbanks are vulnerable. Under-funding, conflict and extreme weather have all taken their toll in recent years. Seedbanks in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, were both looted, just for the plastic containers.
The loss of a seed sample can mean the extinction of the variety it represents and the loss of the opportunity to benefit from that variety’s unique characteristics. The Global Seed Vault is a safety net to ensure that such events do not mean extinction for unique crop varieties by storing duplicates of the world’s seed collections.
The Norway government spent 9 million dollars building the seed vault in remote Svalbard, an ideal physical location for long-term seed storage. The website www.croptrust.org has numerous photos and fascinating information on Svalbard and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
Together we can help keep the trust running.
The Stokes Seeds catalog lists many open pollinated and hybrid varieties along with some heritage items. We have not forgotten that all items in our catalog are derived from some heritage or wild relative of the species. Given this, Stokes Seeds has always been committed to help secure the future of agriculture. We have decided to help fund this program and thought our customers may also want to help fund the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. When you place an order over $25.00, you have the opportunity to add $2.00 for the Trust. Stokes Seeds will match all the $2.00 donations received from our customers. Simply click Seed Trust here or on the seed vault picture on the homepage of our website. This way we can all help ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security for generations to come."
"Together with the air we breathe and the water we drink, crop diversity is one of the most fundamentally important resources for human life on earth.
This diversity is awe-inspiring – there are more than 200,000 varieties of wheat alone. Conserving our crops provides the natural, biological basis of our ability to grow the food required today, as well as to meet the challenges of population growth, changing climates and constantly evolving pests and diseases. Quite simply, there is no possibility of feeding ourselves without it.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust is a new international organization, committed to ensuring that the complete genetic diversity of every crop is preserved.
This independent organization was established by a partnership between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the global consortium of the foremost international research organizations. Funds raised by them will ensure a cost-effective system for the conservation of the resources, which underpin all agriculture and the world’s future food supplies.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
One of the trust’s responsibilities is to collect duplicates of the world’s seed collections to be stored in Svalbard as the ultimate safety backup for our food supply.
The world’s seedbanks are vulnerable. Under-funding, conflict and extreme weather have all taken their toll in recent years. Seedbanks in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, were both looted, just for the plastic containers.
The loss of a seed sample can mean the extinction of the variety it represents and the loss of the opportunity to benefit from that variety’s unique characteristics. The Global Seed Vault is a safety net to ensure that such events do not mean extinction for unique crop varieties by storing duplicates of the world’s seed collections.
The Norway government spent 9 million dollars building the seed vault in remote Svalbard, an ideal physical location for long-term seed storage. The website www.croptrust.org has numerous photos and fascinating information on Svalbard and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
Together we can help keep the trust running.
The Stokes Seeds catalog lists many open pollinated and hybrid varieties along with some heritage items. We have not forgotten that all items in our catalog are derived from some heritage or wild relative of the species. Given this, Stokes Seeds has always been committed to help secure the future of agriculture. We have decided to help fund this program and thought our customers may also want to help fund the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. When you place an order over $25.00, you have the opportunity to add $2.00 for the Trust. Stokes Seeds will match all the $2.00 donations received from our customers. Simply click Seed Trust here or on the seed vault picture on the homepage of our website. This way we can all help ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security for generations to come."