COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Norwegian government on Tuesday signed a deal to start stockpiling grain, saying the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made it necessary.
The deal to store 30,000 tons of grain was signed by agriculture and food minister Geir Pollestad and four private companies. The wheat, that will belong to the Norwegian government, will be stored by the companies in facilities across the country. In a statement, Norway’s ministry for agriculture and food said “the building up of a contingency stock of food grains is about being prepared for the unthinkable.”
Norway will sign further stockpiling contracts in the coming years, with the goal of building up the reserve until 2029. The aim is to have some 82,500 tons of grain in store by the end of the decade “so that we then have enough grain for three months’ consumption by Norway’s population in a crisis situation that may arise,” Pollestad told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
However, following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Norway set up a commission to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of its emergency preparedness systems which recommended stockpiling grain products.Since 2008, gene banks and organizations around the world have deposited nearly 1 million samples of seeds at the vault to back up their own collections in case of human-caused or natural calamities.