Seeds are among the most valuable things on Earth—yet just 4 companies control over 60% of the global seed market. Who controls the seeds, controls the food.
Firing the scientists who maintain the National Plant Germplasm System jeopardizes 127 years of agricultural genetic preservation.
This system safeguards 600,000+ crop varieties that serve as America's agricultural insurance policy against emerging plant diseases and other unforeseen threats to crop production.
The NPGS costs 0.000008% of the federal budget while insuring a $1.5 trillion food system.
When stem rust threatened global wheat supplies in 1999, these collections provided the resistant genes that prevented widespread crop failure.
Similar genetic resources from the bank generate $91+ million annually for the apple industry alone.