When unapproved genetically modified wheat was found growing in Oregon earlier this year, it didn鈥檛 take long for accusations about how it ended up there to start flying.
cast potential blame on a , which housed the same strain of wheat, developed by Monsanto Corporation, for about seven years up until late 2011.
of wrongdoing since then. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman says all of Monsanto鈥檚 1,500 pounds of wheat seeds held at the vault were incinerated a year and a half ago at the corporation鈥檚 request. The investigation brings up questions though of how secure these seed vaults actually are.
Officially, it鈥檚 called the (NCGRP), a nondescript, beige building just off the quad at Colorado State University. There are no high, barb-wired fences. No barking dobermans. No armed guards. Just a friendly welcome video playing in the lobby and a warm-natured receptionist behind a desk, who hands you a clipboard with a sign-in sheet.
That doesn鈥檛 mean the center is lax on security. From the outside it may not look like a bastion of the American agriculture industry. Appearances can be deceiving. Inside, it holds one of the world鈥檚 largest collections of seeds, genetic material for livestock, microbes, and endangered plants under highly-sophisticated lock and key.
Upstairs, in the facility鈥檚 main cold storage vault, ceiling-high shelves hold seemingly endless rows of white pouches. In this room, there are 600,000 seed packets, which puts the total number of seeds in the billions. The temperature is kept at a level similar to a home freezer, at low humidity to arrest seed degradation and keep them viable longer.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e all bar-coded so we know exactly where everything is,鈥� said , research leader at NCGRP, and one of six people in the building with access to the vaults. Another security measure is the labeling system. Looking at a seed pouch, there鈥檚 nothing that tells you what kind of seeds you鈥檙e holding, just a bar code. You need access to a secure database to find out what鈥檚 inside.
To the right of the large, grey metal vault doors, a TV screen shows a live stream of the seed vault. It serves as another reminder of the building鈥檚 emphasis on security. In this place, you鈥檙e always on camera.
Other seed vaults throughout the world store their back-up collections at NCGRP because of the facility鈥檚 reputation not just for the promise of security but also the ability to preserve the viability of seeds for longer periods of time. Private companies like Monsanto and Dupont can also store their seeds in the federally-owned building.
鈥淚t would really be a rare case where we would keep another company鈥檚 seed. There鈥檇 have to be some kind of extenuating circumstances, for them to say, 鈥榃e need you to keep this seed,鈥欌€� said Dierig.
Even though it is rare, privately-owned, genetically-modified seed does make it into storage. That鈥檚 how all eyes fell on the vault鈥檚 doors when news broke in June about Monsanto's glyphosate-resistant, commonly called RoundUp Ready, in a wheat field in Oregon, with a potential connection to the Fort Collins vault.
Dierig said he鈥檚 unable to comment on the Oregon case as the the exact source of the errant wheat plants.
With the investigation turning in other directions, this beige building in Colorado can return to business as usual: securely storing the world鈥檚 seeds.
