Genebank - Sustainable use of plant genetic resources
NordGen provides genetic material to facilitate sustainable food and feed production and other biobased solutions in the Nordic region’s changing climate. The best way to preserve genetic diversity is to use it and the Nordic seed collection is no exception.
Therefore, NordGen sends out thousands of seed samples annually to scientists, plant breeders, companies, museums, botanical gardens and home gardeners with an interest in old cultural plants. Seeds are primarily requested by Nordic and European countries.
The seed samples are mainly ordered by universities and research/breeding institutes while others interested in the material are seed saver organizations, museums, schools and municipalities for education or demonstration use.
The Nordic seed collection is conserved in bags made of laminated layers of plastic and aluminum.
Figure 3: Crop of requested accessions in 2025 (number of bags).
Webshop
As one of the ways to promote the sustainable use of plant genetic resources to the general public, NordGen has established an webshop where we distribute our surplus of seeds for a small admin fee. During springtime, hobby growers and home gardeners with an interest in older varieties of vegetables, flowers and cereals can order seed samples and mini tubers of potatoes from NordGen. In 2025 the work with the website continued, for example, new products and seed samples were made available to the public. During the year, nearly 1,000 orders were shipped through the webshop.
NordGen regularly receives various proposals to add new material to the Nordic seed and potato collection. These suggestions are always carefully evaluated, and only those considered sufficiently relevant are accepted. As a result of activities in various projects, we have seen an increase in new seed samples in recent years.
Figure 4: Incoming seed samples during the recent years.
