Question
Hi, I have heard word of a global seed bank being built in Norway that will serve
as a hedge against world famine orany usch disaster that would affect the food
supply. According to my research, the seed vaultwill hold 3 million seeds. How
will a bank of merely 3 million seeds protect the entire planet?

Answer
Frankie,
Thanx for your question.  I'm a simple horticulturist.  I only know a little bit about flowers and gardening.  But, I do know that since recorded time there have been numerous agricultural disasters and some were created by humans.  We learned from those disasters to hedge our bets and store food seeds in various places just in case another of these disasters occurs.  In the 1840s, Ireland was the victim of the potato blight because they had no genetic diversity in their potato crop.  The crop failed and resulted in a huge death toll and emmigration of Irish from the homeland to all parts of the world but most notably to the U.S., Canada, South Africa and Australia.  It took the Irish nation more than 100 years to recover from this disaster.  Thank goodness for the diversity of the native potatoes in South America.  Many had a natural resistance to blight and new cultivars were developed by breeding various varieties of potatoes to come up with one that would help avoid another disaster which had resulted in an estimated 750,000 deaths or about 12% of the population.  Think of 6 million people dying in the U.S. of the same period and you can see how this devastated the country.  Few people recall that in 1970 a corn blight resulted in the destruction of 15% of the U.S. corn production.  Thank goodness for a huge stockpile.  There is a seed corn bank in Mexico and the USDA also maintains a strategic seedbank as do many countries and private organizations such as Seed Savers of Decorah, Iowa who also sell seeds and have a membership that exchanges seeds.  The three million seeds saved at the proposed seed vault in Norway will not be the only resource to prevent natural and man-made disasters but will be part of a network of seed-saving organizations.  Chances are, if a disaster does occur, it will most likely belimited to certain areas of the world or amongst certain species of plants.  If it is very widespread, there is a good possibility that a lot of people will perish from hunger in spite of our best efforts to prepare.  Three millions seeds by themselves probably could not save 6 billion people but I don't think the seed project in Norway is trying  to take on the responsbilility by itself.  I hope this helps.
Tom