Crates with seed being delivered in Svalbard, Norway
Changins, 14. Agroscope went to Svalbard, Norway, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Global Plant Seed Vault, where over a million seed varieties from all around the world are stored in duplicate. Switzerland sent 719 new specimens for safekeeping to mark the occasion. Representatives of 23 gene banks, including Agroscope's, were welcomed to Svalbard by Norway's Minister of Agriculture. At the event, site upgrade works totalling EUR 11.5m were announced by the Norwegian government. In addition, delivery was taken of 70,000 new samples in the warehouse which today houses more than a million varieties. Switzerland sent two crates containing 719 plant specimens to Spitsbergen Island. Protected in aluminium packets, the samples contained seeds from ancient and new varieties of wheat, triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), oats, rye, barley and spelt, as well as two sage varieties and an Italian parsley.
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