CIP deposits 1,027 additional seed accessions at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Svalbard WirePublished 26 OctoberReport by the Wire.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault entrance in snow, with a fjord and mountains behind, in black and white. File picture. Photo: 黃逸樂(世界首窮), CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
PotatoPro reported on 26 October that CIP deposited 1,027 additional seed accessions at the Svalbard vault.
The Government (regjeringen.no) said in a news story of 14 October 2026 that 21 genebanks took part in a seed deposit in Svalbard that month. Together they sent more than 16,000 seed samples. The boxes came from Asia, South America, Europe and Africa.
According to the Government, Ukraine deposited 773 of the samples, the first Ukrainian deposit since the outbreak of the war. Nils Kristen Sandtrøen, the minister for agriculture and food, said in the release that the deposit shows countries and institutions still act together for food security.
The Government said bombing damaged buildings and infrastructure at the national genebank in Kharkiv in 2022. The collection was later moved to western Ukraine, away from the front line.
The Government said the vault now stores over 1.4 million samples from more than 130 genebanks. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food said the Norwegian Government established and funds the vault, and that the ministry runs it with the Global Crop Diversity Trust and NordGen.
Correction, 26 October 2026: an earlier version described CIP's deposit as safeguarding Peru's potato diversity. The 1,027 samples are 98 species of wild potato and sweetpotato relatives, maca and ahipa.
Correction, 26 October 2026: an earlier version said the deposit aimed to protect potato diversity in Peru, the framing of PotatoPro's headline. The deposit is of seed samples of wild potato and sweetpotato relatives, maca and ahipa.
Correction, 31 October 2026: an earlier version of the headline listed the crops in the deposit as wild potato and sweetpotato relatives, maca and ahipa. The sources for this piece do not name them.
The vault outside Longyearbyen keeps 1.4 million seed samples from 135 genebanks in 84 countries and the international centres.
Each square is one genebank. Its area is the number of seed samples it keeps in the vault; the smallest are drawn at the smallest size that can be seen.
The vault has opened for deposits on 73 days since 26 February 2008; the largest day, 26 February 2008, brought 237,106 samples, and the latest, 13 October 2026, 16,514.
Each mark is one day the vault opened; its area is the samples that came in. The smallest days are drawn at the smallest size that can be seen. An outlined mark is a day the portal lists with no samples under it.
PotatoPro, Press. CIP Deposits 1,027 Additional Seed Accessions at Svalbard Vault to Safeguard Peru’s Potato Diversity. https://www.potatopro.com/news/2026/cip-deposits-1027-additional-seed-accessions-svalbard-vault-safeguard-peru%E2%80%99s-potato
The Government, Government. Ukraine safeguards seeds at Svalbard Global Seed Vault for the first time since the outbreak of the war. https://www.regjeringen.no/en/whats-new/ukraina-lagrar-fro-i-svalbard-globale-frokvelv-for-forste-gong-sidan-krigsutbrotet/id3177597/