Seeds in Translation: From Multispecies Environments into Frozen Assets

Ex situ seed banks are presented as a major solution to the decline in agricultural crop diversity and the consequent threats to food security. As the current organization of human-crop relations fuels global warming, biodiversity loss and other environmental problems, this paper explores the logic of its legitimization through a critical reading of textual material concerning the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a “backup” facility for the world’s crop diversity. Building on Anna Tsing’s use of translation, the paper demonstrates how seeds become assets in the SGSV’s practices. The paper draws on feminist/posthumanist research on human-plant relations and suggests that the SGSV’s strategy relies on translating diverse ways of human-crop life into a “one-size-fits-all” model which capitalizes on interspecies bonds. By making visible inequalities ­produced in the process, the paper argues for a need to (re)consider existing conservation arrangements, to obstruct environmental devastation and to make conservation more purposeful and just.