Do you keep your backups nearby? We store them more than 8,000 km away.
Join us on a journey, as seeds travel from CIMMYT’s gene bank in Mexico to the Global Seed Vault in the Arctic.

Seed security is the first step towards food security. The biodiversity of maize and wheat seeds from all over the world is preserved at the CIMMYT gene bank in Mexico. Breeders and researchers use the rich genetic diversity of these seeds to bring new varieties to farmers. CIMMYT keeps 28,000 unique seed samples of maize and 150,000 of wheat.
The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard opened in 2008. Since then, CIMMYT has duplicated 50 million seeds — 170,000 samples of maize and wheat — from its gene bank and deposited them at Svalbard, as a backup. This year, CIMMYT sent 24 boxes of seed, with 332 samples of maize and 15,231 samples of wheat.
This treasure, kept in the global network of gene banks, is key to ensuring sustainable, nutritious agricultural systems for future generations. Keepers of gene banks around the world are only the depositors of this legacy, which belongs to all humanity. CIMMYT will continue to preserve these seeds and to make their biodiversity available to researchers and famers, to solve today’s and tomorrow’s most pressing issues.



CREDITS:
Special thanks: Crop Trust, NordGen and all the Genetic Resources program staff at CIMMYT.
Production: Alfonso Cortés, Rodrigo Ordóñez and Silvia Rico, CIMMYT. Additional footage: Thomas Sonne/Common Ground Media for NordGen.
Post-production: Rodrigo Ordóñez and Silvia Rico, CIMMYT.
Music: “Dusk to Dawn” by Josh Leake. Licensed from Artlist (License owner: CIMMYT. License number 902271).

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