“Seeds of Time” movie event

July 27, 2015

We are pleased to offer an opportunity to view “Seeds of Time”, a feature-length documentary that traces the crusade of Dr Cary Fowler to build the ‘doomsday seed vault’—an apocalypse-proof global seed bank on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. The movie is being shown for the first time in Canberra to coincide with the visit by Cary, who is presenting the Sir John Crawford Memorial Address at our annual conference “The Business of Food Security” on 10-12 August. More information on our conference, which will focus on public, private and not-for-profit sector partnerships for sustainable intensification and food security, is here.

WHEN:
Wednesday 12 August 5 – 6.45pm, including Q&A
WHERE:
Main Theatre, Questacon—The National Science and Technology Centre, King Edward Terrace Canberra
COST:
$15pp—please note that your payment will help support the Crawford Fund’s conference scholarships for young Australian agricultural students and scientists to attend the 2015 conference and scholar day, including the “Seeds of Time” showing, to encourage them into further study, careers and volunteering in agriculture for development. More information is here.
HOW TO PAY:
You can pay for your ticket through our online facility, but the payment will not be treated as a donation. Click here and indicate in the ‘comments’ section that your payment is for “Seeds of Time”.

Short Synopsis of “Seeds of Time”
A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Seed banks around the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation and rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are affecting farmers globally. Communities of indigenous Peruvian farmers are already suffering those effects, as they try desperately to save over 1,500 varieties of native potato in their fields. But with little time to waste, both Fowler and the farmers embark on passionate and personal journeys that may save the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.

This special screening will feature a post screening Q&A session with Dr Cary Fowler
“Cary Fowler is a guy who has almost single-handedly created something of great value for the Global Community. I can’t think of any other global endeavours that have the kind of absolute value for all of us that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds”
Director, Sandy McLeod

“Seeds of Time” has had an incredible run on the film festival circuit, including screenings all over the world. Some press quotes include:
“The urgency of expanding the world’s seed portfolio is made eminently clear”
The New York Times
“‘Seeds of Time’ offers a vital, clear-headed look at the effects of climate change on global food security”
The Los Angeles Times
“Very powerful…it’s fascinating…you wouldn’t think that something like seeds would be that compelling, but it is and it’s really important”
Claudia Puig, USA Today/ 89.3 KPCC

About Dr Cary Fowler

Dr Cary Fowler was recently nominated by President Obama to the Board for International Food and Agriculture Development. Prior to joining the Crop Trust, initially as its Director and now as an advisor, Cary was Professor and Director of Research in the Department for International Environment & Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He was also a Senior Advisor to the Director General of Bioversity International. In this latter role, he represented the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in negotiations on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Cary’s career in the conservation and use of crop diversity spans 30 years. He was Program Director for the National Sharecroppers Fund/ Rural Advancement Fund, a US-based NGO engaged in plant genetic resources education and advocacy. In 1985 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament. In the 1990s he headed the International Conference and Programme on Plant Genetic Resources at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which produced the UN’s first ever global assessment of the state of the world’s plant genetic resources. He drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO’s Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted by 150 countries in 1996. That same year, he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit. Cary has been profiled by CBS 60 Minutes and the New Yorker, and is the author of several books on the subject of plant genetic resources and more than 75 articles in agriculture, law, and development journals. Cary received a 2010 Heinz Award for his “vision and efforts in the preservation of the world’s food supply”.