Who else would have access to the best stocked pantry in the world but Martha Stewart?
The lifestyle guru is inviting a member of the public to join her on the first ever expedition to the ‘doomsday’ Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic.
Buried beneath the world’s northernmost town on an island in the icy reaches of Norway, the vault contains around half a billion seeds of just about every type of crop on the planet.
That’s a well stocked pantry! Martha Stewart is inviting a member of the public to join her on first ever expedition to the ‘Doomsday’ Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The facility is run by the Crop Trust, whose goal is building a global system to conserve the world’s crop diversity forever.
Normally closed to the public, Martha is leading the inaugural trip to the vault which is carved deep into the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen Island, and closely resembles a James Bond villain’s layer.
The location was chosen because of its lack of tectonic activity, and its remoteness protects against interference, while the permafrost ensures the seeds are preserved even if electricity fails.
The contents are handled like a safe deposit box in a bank; While Norway owns the facility itself, the governments of the individual countries who donated the seeds retain ownership of each deposit.
Bond villain lair: Buried beneath the world’s northernmost town on an island in the icy reaches of Norway, the vault contains around half a billion seeds of just about every type of crop on the planet
The Global Seed Vault houses nearly one million samples and is the world’s biggest collection of agricultural biodiversity
The Trust is attempting to raise money to make the vault sustainable forever.
It needs $850million in total for Crop Diversity Endowment Fund, from public and private sources; Bill and Melinda Gates for example have already donated $30million.
‘Their sole mission is to ensure the future of food security,’ Martha said.
Remote: The location was chosen because of its lack of tectonic activity, and its remoteness protects against interference, while the permafrost ensures the seeds are preserved even if electricity fails
The vault is situated on the island of Spitsbergen, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, and opened nearly a decade ago
Global Seed Vault designed to preserve world’s food supply in case of a ‘doomsday’ event
According to the Trust, in the last 100 years, 93 per cent of the known fruit and vegetable varieties in the US have already become extinct.
As part of the fundraiser, a donation of just $10 to the campaign is in with a chance of a place on the expedition, which includes flights, accommodation, a champagne reception to view the Northern Lights, a polar bear tour, dog sledding, glacial cave exploration, and an unprecedented private tour of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault itself.
The winner will also get to share an intimate dinner discussion with leading food scientists and global policy makers — and of course Martha.
First: Normally closed to the public, Martha is leading the inaugural trip to the vault which is carved deep into the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen Island (right)
Deep down: As part of the fundraiser, a donation of just $10 to the campaign is in with a chance of a place on the expedition, which includes flights, accommodation, a champagne reception to view the Northern Lights, a polar bear tour, dog sledding, glacial cave exploration, and an unprecedented private tour of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault itself