The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Spitsbergen Norway
"Cary Fowler...and the Vavilov Institute...engaged in the Noah-like task of gathering the seeds of about
two million varieties of food plants,
both the familiar domesticated crops and many of their wild relatives,
in order to create the first global seed bank."
(The New Yorker, "Sowing for Apocalypse," August 20, 2007)
Table of Contents
There are more than 50,000 edible plants in the world today,
but just 15 of them provide 90 percent of the world's food energy intake.
10 Fruits, Nuts, and Vegetables You Did Not Know Were Human-Made
You can access the virtual interactive tour here or by clicking the title above.
"Entrance to Seed Vault (cropped)," from Wikimedia Commons, December 22, 2019
LISTEN: "Inside The Global Seed Vault, Where The History And Future Of Agriculture Is Stored," NPR (July 24, 2017) [35 minutes]
You can read the transcript here, or by clicking on the title in the embedded player below.
WATCH: "Inside the Svalbard Seed Vault," Veritasium (May 4, 2016) [9 minutes]
You can access the original video here, or by clicking the "YouTube" button at the bottom of the embedded player.
WATCH: "What's the Doomsday Seed Vault Really For?" Tom Scott (June 29, 2015) [2 minutes]
You can access the original video here, or by clicking the "YouTube" button at the bottom of the embedded player.
Or, watch Motherboard's, "Exploring the Arctic's Global Seed Vault," November 11, 2016 [5 minutes] and CNN's "See inside the 'Doomsday' seed vault," October 22, 2015 [3 minutes]
READ: "A Visit To The Doomsday Vault," 60 Minutes (March 20, 2008) [20 minute read at eighth grade reading level]
You can access the article here. If you have a Paramount+ account, you can stream the 60 Minutes episode on the same webpage.
Or, read BBC's "The Gloomy Arctic Seed Bank That's Key to Future Crops," January 12, 2016 [10 minute read at eighth grade reading level]
READ: "Syria War Forces First Withdrawal from Svalbard Global Seed Vault," NBC, September 25, 2015 [10 minute read at eighth grade reading level]
You can access the article here.
Famine in History
You can access this wiki page by clicking the title above.
LEARNING GAME: Food Security Game, Peace Corps (2024) [20 minutes]
You can access the learning game here or by clicking on the title above.
WATCH: "Drought and Famine," Crash Course (September 5, 2014) [10 minutes]
You can access the original video here, or by clicking the "YouTube" button at the bottom of the embedded player.
READ: "China's Great Famine: The True Story," The Guardian (January 1, 2013) [10 minute read at eighth grade reading level]
You can access the article here.
Or, read "Ten Worst Famines of the 20th Century," The Sydney Morning Herald (August 8, 2015) [10 minute read at eighth grade reading level]
Agriculture in History
INFOGRAPHIC: View the transfer of goods and diseases from the Columbian Exchange, by Anita Ravi. Khan Academy (2024)
Infographic showing the transfer of goods and diseases from the Columbian Exchange. By Anita Ravi. Khan Academy (2024)
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| Date of First McDonalds Restaurant by Continent |
Foods and Their Origins
INTERACT: Where Our Foods Come From, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (2016)
You can view the interactive map here, or view the non-interactive map below.
Foods Indigenous to the Western Hemisphere
https://foodwise.org/articles/10-foods-native-to-the-americas/
OF AFRICAN ORIGIN
COFFEE: The History of Coffee
OF ASIAN ORIGIN
APPLES: All About Apples: Some History, a Recipe, and Recommendations
OF AUSTRALIAN AND OCEANIAN ORIGIN
BANANAS
from Wikimedia Commons
WATCH: "The dark history of bananas," TEDEd (November 3, 2020) [6 minutes]
OF EUROPEAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN ORIGIN
WHEAT: Wheat Domestication--The History and Origins of Floury Grains
OF AMERICAN ORIGIN
CORN: Rethinking the Corny History of Maize
WILD RICE
POTATOES/TOMATOES: Origins of Species of Corn, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Some Other Interesting History
SUNFLOWER: How the Russians Saved America's Sunflower
COCOA: History of Cocoa and Chocolate
SQUASH: Foods Indigenous to the Western Hemisphere
BLUEBERRIES
CRANBERRIES
https://extension.umaine.edu/cranberries/cranberry-facts-and-history/
Three Sisters Agriculture
Meet the Three Sisters Who Sustain Native America
Three Sisters . . .and the Fourth Sister No One Really Talks About
- Bean
- Corn
- Squash
- Sunflower
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