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 FOOD FOR THE FUTURE!

In 1845, a deadly disease struck the farms of  

Ireland, killing all the Lumper potato plants.  

The death of a single crop species might not  

seem so important. But in Ireland, in 1845,  

people depended almost solely on the potato  

for food. The death of one species caused a  

terrible famine.1 

 Now, some scientists are  

worried that such a famine could happen  

again—but on a much wider scale. 

Over the centuries, farmers have discovered  

thousands of different species of food crops.  

Each species has special qualities. Some can  

be grown in very hot or cold climates. Others  

are not affected by certain diseases. However,  

you won’t find many of these species in your  

local supermarket. To feed the seven billion  

people on Earth, most farmers today are  

growing only species of plants that are easy  

to produce in large numbers. Meanwhile,  

thousands of other species are becoming  

extinct.2 

For example, in the Philippines, there were  

once thousands of varieties of rice; now fewer  

than 100 are grown there. In China, 90 percent  

of the wheat varieties grown just a century ago  

have disappeared. Experts believe that over the  

past century, we have allowed more than half of  

the world’s food varieties to disappear

Saving the Seeds 

One solution to this problem is to collect and  

preserve the seeds of as many different plant  

varieties as we can before they disappear.  

This idea was first suggested by Russian  

scientist Nikolay Vavilov. In the 1920s and  

1930s, he collected around 400,000 seeds from  

five continents. More recently, others have  

continued the work he began. There are now  

around 1,700 seed banks in countries around  

the world. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault— 

which preserves almost one million seed  

samples—has one of the largest collections.  

In the U.S. state of Iowa, Diane Ott Whealy  

and her husband founded Heritage Farm—a  

place where people can store and trade seeds.  

Initially, Ott Whealy wanted to preserve  

historic plant varieties, like the seeds her  

great-grandfather brought to the United States  

more than 100 years ago from Germany. But  

the people at Heritage Farm don’t just store  

the seeds; they plant them. By doing this, they  

are reintroducing foods into the marketplace  

that haven’t been grown for years. These  

food species are not just special in terms of  

appearance or flavor. They also offer farmers  

food solutions for the future, from the past.