Nibbles: Agroecology, Genomics meet, African botany meet, Gardens, ISHS, Market chains, KFC in Africa, Wine terroir, Vanilla research, Dye mushrooms, French agrobiodiversity research, Indian genebank, Policy newsletter, Eels, Neolithic grain

USDA should think about agroecology more. Or at all?
The latest from PAGXXII. Lots on domestication, genebanks, crop improvement, all that cool stuff.
There’s also AETFAT going on, and it’s just as cool. Maybe more so. Though less socially networked, I guess.
How public gardens should build up living plant collections. You’d have thought they’d know.
An update on plant genetic resources from ISHS. Lots happening…
How to support agrobiodiversity through sustainable sourcing.
KFC must have read that slideshare above.
Breaking down the terroir. And not for the first time.
Does vanilla have terroirs? I bet it does. Should ask the world’s expert.
Dye mushrooms? Are you kidding me?
ARCAD, DIADE: No matter how you spell it, lots of French interest (and money) in crop and livestock genetics.
Likewise in India, it looks like from this piece on NBPGR.
The Bioversity Policy Unit is apparently still alive and kicking.
European eels a conservation success story?
Let the ancient DNA sequencing begin!

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.