A recent Nibble included some feedback from a user of the USDA genebanks. After receiving, but not yet planting, some wheat seed from the National Plant Germplasm System, the good people at the Seed Library of Los Angeles get all hot under the collar about USDA.
We don’t think we can trust the USDA with all this material for a long time — they have shown very poor judgement as regards to the proliferation of GMOs and their unwillingness to stand up for the consumer (and taxpayer) in how they allot their resources.
Which elicited this reply from Gardenprairie.
The feedback from the genebank user makes it sound like the USDA NPGS doesn’t know what they are doing — the genebanks have been around since 1948 — I think he should try working with them not treating them like the enemy.
Indeed. USDA told them what seed they had. They maintained it for years just waiting for their request. And then they sent it to them. Hard to say what more the Seed Library of Los Angeles people could reasonably demand of a genebank.