CIMMYT Expands Svalbard Backup Of Seeds Vital To Global Food Security

A new deposit in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault strengthens the protection of maize and wheat collections conserved by CIMMYT in Mexico as global public goods, keeping genetic diversity available for research, breeding and food security.

Part of the genetic diversity of maize and wheat conserved by CIMMYT in Mexico begins its journey to the Arctic today. The new shipment to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway expands the safety backup of collections that encompass diversity developed over generations and may contain traits useful for responding to diseases, drought, heat and other pressures on food production.

The CIMMYT Germplasm Bank conserves around 28,630 maize accessions and more than 124,000 wheat accessions. Each accession is a sample with a documented identity and origin that represents a particular part of the diversity within these crops. The collections are conserved as global public goods and made available under established international mechanisms for research and breeding. Their value depends on protecting them while ensuring they remain accessible to those who may need them.

Ensuring that potentially irreplaceable material does not depend on a single collection is part of that responsibility. CIMMYT maintains safety duplicates outside Texcoco, including at Svalbard and in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. For maize, 26,755 of the approximately 28,630 accessions conserved by CIMMYT are backed up at Svalbard, representing close to 90% of the collection. For wheat, institutional records have documented backup levels of up to 98% at Svalbard and 94% at Fort Collins. The new shipment continues this long-term effort to safeguard the collections.

“This shipment of more than 4,000 wheat and maize accessions to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault reflects our strong commitment to protecting the genetic diversity of these crops. It is the result of a collective effort involving the entire Germplasm Bank team. By safeguarding these accessions in one of the world’s most secure seed repositories, we are helping ensure that future generations can continue to benefit from the valuable resources conserved at the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank,” said Carolina Sansaloni, Principal Scientist, Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist at CIMMYT.

The importance of this backup lies in what the seeds represent. Material conserved for decades may contain traits that become relevant when new challenges emerge. When maize lethal necrosis threatened production in East Africa, for example, researchers screened around 1,000 maize landrace accessions conserved by CIMMYT and identified ten with resistance to the viruses associated with the disease.

Svalbard protects a safety copy, but keeping this diversity useful requires continuous scientific work. In Texcoco, accessions are documented and monitored, regenerated when necessary, and subjected to viability and seed health controls. To be distributed, an accession must have sufficient seed, maintain a germination rate above 85%, and meet the phytosanitary requirements needed for safe sharing.

This year’s shipment consists of seven boxes prepared at the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank. Behind every sample is a team of scientists, specialists and Germplasm Bank staff who document accessions, monitor their viability, regenerate them when necessary, and verify their health and quality. This work helps ensure that seeds are properly conserved while active collections remain available for research and breeding.

These capabilities are part of a broader collaboration among CGIAR genebanks, coordinated through the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator. As part of this work, Vania Azevedo, Director of the Accelerator, is visiting CIMMYT this week with members of her team to learn about the collections, regeneration plots and the processes that sustain their conservation, as CIMMYT prepares its new deposit for Svalbard.

“CGIAR is responsible for two-thirds of the material deposited at Svalbard, and CIMMYT alone is the largest depositor of seeds in the Vault. This reflects the commitment of our genebanks to protecting agricultural diversity and keeping these resources available for research, crop improvement and the food security of future generations,” said Vânia Azevedo, Director of the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is owned by Norway and operates through a partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) and the Crop Trust. It safeguards safety duplicates of collections held by genebanks around the world, while depositing institutions retain control over their material.

Conservation also connects the genebank with the places where much of this diversity originated. CIMMYT conserves more than 9,000 maize collections from Mexico and has returned more than 800 accessions to communities or conservation initiatives linked to their places of origin. In Michoacán, for example, 62 accessions collected decades earlier returned to their regions of origin in 2024 through a process that included demonstration plots, participatory selection and technical support.

This work is complemented by efforts to strengthen local seed systems. In southern Mexico, CIMMYT and its partners are supporting community seed houses, spaces managed by communities themselves to conserve, select and multiply native seeds adapted to local conditions. The model envisions a network of 12 houses across Quintana Roo, Oaxaca and Morelos and is part of a broader regional effort to strengthen seed systems in Mexico and Central America.

Protecting crop diversity therefore takes place at complementary levels: safety duplicates remain secure at Svalbard and other backup sites; active collections in Texcoco keep material viable, documented and available to science; while work with communities helps ensure that this is diversity is also conserved, multiplied and used in the places where it is grown.

Maintaining this system requires sustained investment in conservation, regeneration, seed health, characterization, documentation, international safety backups and local capacity, as well as collaboration among governments, scientific institutions, farming communities and international partners.

Backing up seeds at Svalbard is part of a broader responsibility: conserving genetic diversity as a global public good and ensuring that it remains viable, accessible and useful. Sustaining that capacity allows scientists, breeding programs and farming communities to continue drawing on diversity accumulated over generations to respond to disease, climate variability and other challenges to food production, protecting one of the foundations of global food security.