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                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research: Fort Collins, CO
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ARS Home Plains Area Fort Collins, Colorado Center for Agricultural Resources Research Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research Docs Seed







Security Backupheadline bar Seeds in foil bags. Just like the old saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket", storing all your genetic resources at a single site is risky.  USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System's collections are duplicated through coordination of active and base collections. Other genetic resources programs do not have separate sites to house collections. Global food security is dependent on an international network of genebanks, and therefore duplicate safety back-up of genetic resources is in everyone's interest. The NLGRP, with large capacity and infrastructure, provides security back-up storage of seeds for other governmental agencies, botanical gardens, national genebanks in other countries, international genebanks, NGOs and Native American tribes.   The institutions providing seeds retain ownership of them in a black-box arrangement in which NLGRP provides optimal storage conditions but does not conduct viability tests or distribute seeds and will return seed to owner at their request. This service is provided free of charge to qualified entities with the minimum provision that the owner distributes seed for research from their base collections.  Free, back-up storage at NLGRP protects genetic resource collections from irreplaceable loss and ensures long-term benefits of genetic resources. All black-box stored material will be returned to the owner upon written request. A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), renewed every 5 years, is required for all material placed in black-box storage.  Please contact Dr. Stephanie Greene (stephanie.greene@ars.usda.gov).Germplasm Submissions Major Backup Donor Organizations African Rice Center in BeninAgriculture & AgriFood CanadaCountry of GeorgiaEmbrapa CentergenFairchild Tropical Botanic GardenInternational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)International Potato Center (CIP)International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)Native Seeds/SearchRae Selling Berry Seed Bank & Plant Conservation ProgramRancho Santa Ana Botanic GardenThe Rockefeller FoundationSeed Savers


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