(Radio Iowa) – Two scientists who helped create an international seed vault received the World Food Prize last week in Des Moines, spotlighting the importance of seed banks, including one in northeast Iowa. The Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, is a collection with more than 20-thousand heirloom varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers and grains. The non-profit’s development director Cindy Goodner says it’s one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the U.S. “Our collection of home-grown seeds is really deemed as being globally significant,” Goodner says. She notes the Seed Savers’ mission is to build a community of people who safeguard heirloom seeds for the future.

Goodner says this year’s World Food Prize, often dubbed the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture, elevates the importance of protecting crop diversity. Mike Bollinger, executive director of the Seed Savers Exchange, says home gardeners and small-scale farmers who save and share heirloom seeds are also vital links to maintaining diversity in our crops. “No matter how you’re looking at it, you need crop diversity,” Bolinger says. “It is really the foundation of our agricultural food system, and so it’s important to preserve that.” Bollinger says he was happy to see the World Food Prize awarded to scientists in this field. He says it brings attention to seed banks and their role in food security, especially in the face of climate change.

The World Food Prize went to Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler, who helped start the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway in 2008. It’s a backup for more than 100 seed banks around the world, including the Seed Savers Exchange.